Demigods of War Book 1, The Marked Son
by JumperCable2
Summary: A new group of campers has arrived at Camp Half Blood, one of which in particular has been revealed to be the center of a third Great Prophecy, and the key to stopping a massive conspiracy against Olympus. Marked with the parentage of a forgotten destroyer, can he overcome his father's reputation, redeem his brethren, and take his place as a hero?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1, Our reunion is interrupted**

* * *

"Any last words Spartan?" A barbarian king taunted his nearly defeated opponent as he began to raise his huge spiked war hammer for the final strike. The fur covered armor he wore was the only thing with more hair than his beard, including his fur lined boots. His barbarian hordes were beginning to decimate the spartan army, both sides numbering in the thousands. While the Spartans had been trained by their general to use great brutality and win at all cost, barbarians were known to fight as monsters.

The king stood over his personal opponent, the Spartans' general himself. He was quite distinguished among his soldiers, a black goatee sporting the only hair on his head other than his eyebrows. A red tattoo on his face, running down his forehead and over his left eye, and another in a short spiral on his arm, was clearly a famous characteristic he'd earned with his new title, with the scar over his right eye showing signs of an old battle. His spartan hoplite armor showed a great deal of wear and tear, likely due to the sheer strength of his opponent.

As he lay on his back at the feet of the barbarian king, the Spartan looked up at the king and saw no other option for victory.

"ARES!" the Spartan cried out, calling out to his patron god, the god of war himself. "DESTROY MY ENEMIES! AND MY LIFE...IS YOUR'S!" Thunder boomed across the sky, drawing the attention of every Spartan and barbarian alike. Even the barbarian king himself ignored his chance at the final strike, frozen in fear at the sight of a real war god, stepping down from a hole in the swirling clouds of a blood red sky, the sun glowing behind this being of pure destruction.

Ares himself truly was a sight to dread. Armor of dark red metal, decorated with chains around the boots and gauntlets, faces of metal dogs on the shoulder guards and one more on the breastplate. Ares' image of terror and dread was completed with hair running down to his shoulders, but glowing with bright orange flames, a true face of destruction.

Only the Spartans knelt before their god of war, while the barbarians stared and tried to back away in fear. Their general himself was on both his hands and knees, bowing before his new master. He got up off his hands, but still knelt as he spoke a final pledge. "My life is your's Ares. From this day forward."

Fire swirled around Ares' hands, quickly gathering between his hands before being unleased as a wave through the ranks of warriors. The Spartans quickly healed and saw their weapons and armor not only repaired, but seeming to glow with sheer power. The barbarians were not so fortunate. As enemies of his people, Ares sent forth his wrath on the attacking horde, causing their own bodies to destroy themselves, necks snapping out of nowhere, barbarians floating into midair before their spines were bent all the way backwards, their very skin bursting into flames as if from a mere thought.

As for their general, no mere sword and shield would suit the servant of the god of war. From the gigantic celebratory pyre lit by the Spartans to burn the bodies of their barbarian enemies, a harpy flew from the flames, with the bald head of a nightmarish woman and the body of a large bat, the creature carried in its claws two short swords with long chains dangling from the pommels. The blades themselves were wide, curved, and had three points cut into the edge at the front. The crossguard appeared like the skulls of strange, beaked monsters.

As the harpy brought the blades to the general, the chains flew towards his arms, wrapping themselves around the arms as they bound the weapons to him, suddenly channeling enough heat to fuse the chains onto the spartan's arms forever. The Spartan held in pained screams as the chains burned themselves to his skin, then took the blades, approached the captured king, and swung the swords by their chains to different sides of the barbarian's neck, beheading his opponent.

* * *

 **Percy**

"Well that was weird." I said as I sat up in bed. "I thought Ares' _eyes_ were on fire, not his _hair_."

I should probably explain how I know that. It's a long story. I gotta warn you though. You might be like me, in which case, you're a zillion times safer if you don't know. Trust me. If you know, they'll be knocking down your door trying to get you. Don't say I didn't warn you though.

You know all the stories about the gods, titans, monsters, and demigods in Greek mythology? They're real. They're all walking around in plain sight, hidden by a force called the Mist. Trust me on this. I'm a demigod, a son of Poseidon to be exact. I get attacked by monsters on a regular basis. How am I still alive at 17 years old you might ask? I got lucky. Part of it might have been being a son of the Big Three, the most powerful kind of demigod there is. Another part might be a magic sword that can always be found in my pocket, disguised as a pen. Guess which is mightier. The biggest reason though, isn't even where I spend my summers, Camp Half Blood, which reminds me. If you're reading this now, and you're a demigod like me, go there right now. The reason I'm still alive is that I'm not alone. I've made friends with powerful demigods, including my girlfriend Annabeth. She's Athena's daughter, but don't ask how that happened. She doesn't like to talk about being the daughter of a virgin goddess. Seriously. Don't ask.

As I got up, I saw my necklace from Camp Half Blood on the nightstand. I took another look at the beads on it, thinking back on the past five years over there. The black bead with the green trident; the year I got claimed as Poseidon's son and had to prove I didn't steal Zeus' master bolt. The white bead with the golden ram; the year my friends and I had to cross the Sea of Monsters to find the Golden Fleece, the year I met Thalia, Zeus' daughter. Long story there. The gray maze, the year Annabeth and I searched through the Labyrinth to find our friend Nico, Hades' son. We'd also found Daedelus, the maze's inventor, who stopped the labyrinth from being used as an invasion route for the titans' army into the camp. The Empire State building; a list of casualties from the Battle of Manhattan, when Kronos and his followers attacked the new Olympus. That was when Annabeth and I finally started dating. The last bead held the most memories for me. It was purple with a gold laurel wreath around the letters "SPQR" which stands for a Latin phrase I can't remember to save my life. That bead held an entirely different war, with the Earth itself, in a single year.

It was all in a single year, but so much had happened. We'd discovered a camp of Roman demigods, and I'd been given amnesia before being sent there, while my friend Jason, Thalia's brother and son of Jupiter (the Roman version of Zeus), had been sent to Camp Half Blood, along with his girlfriend Piper and their best friend Leo. Jason, Piper, and Leo had been sent on a quest to free Hera, the queen of the gods, while I went with two other Roman demigods, Frank (Mars' son) and Hazel (Pluto's daughter) to free Thanatos, the god of death, so monsters would no longer be immune to death. When our group of seven demigods met up, Annabeth had to find a magical statue of her mom in order to stop a second civil war between the two camps. We all had to go to Rome (yeah. _The_ Rome) to find it, having to get past more monsters than ever before. When we found the statue, Annabeth and I fell into Tartarus, Greek mythology's version of Hell. The group divided, we went to find the Doors of Death, to close them so monsters would stop coming back, so easily anyway. Once we sealed the doors, Nico, along with the Roman camp, Camp Jupiter's "praetor", Reyna, took the statue back to Camp Half Blood while the rest of us went to deal with the main threat, Gaia, the primordial goddess of the Earth. We may have defeated Gaia, hopefully for a least a few thousand years, but Leo sacrificed himself to do it.

I nostalgically put the necklace back on, already curious to know what this year's bead would look like. Something told me it would have something to do with that dream about the Spartans and Barbarians. If there's one thing I've learned about being a demigod, it's to never ignore your dreams. For demigods, dreams show us stuff that's happening somewhere else, which makes for amazing recon during a war, not to mention events from the past. I started to wonder if that was really the past I saw in the dream.

"Percy! Time to get up!" my mom called from the living room. "You don't want to be late! Especially not today!"

She had a point. Today was the one day I had almost always been absolutely certain would never come, my graduation from high school.

* * *

The school year had been surprisingly uneventful, except for the random dracaenae in the woodshop class. For once, broken equipment hadn't been blamed on me, mostly because I got out of there just in time. Then there was the Stymphalian bird in the cafeteria. We had to start a food fight to make sure no one saw the random death bird. Don't ask about the basilisk in the locker room. Seriously, Annabeth and I weren't supposed to be in there alone.

Anyway, the ceremony was actually free of monster attacks, so we managed to get through it with only ADHD-induced boredom. That's a pretty good sign you're a demigod; when you have ADHD and Dyslexia. After the ceremony, my mom took us all to McDonald's to celebrate before driving Annabeth and me to the camp. The whole drive up to the camp, I could barely take my eyes off Annabeth, with her long blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. Saying our goodbyes for the summer and carrying our bags up the hill, Annabeth and I were ready for one more summer before heading off to New Rome...in California.

At the top, we saw two demigods who were unmistakeable; Piper, her chocolate brown hair choppy and uneven, but in a braid, her kaleidoscopic eyes seeming to constantly change color, and Jason, his short blonde hair now looking messy, both standing there, probably waiting for someone. Annabeth and Piper ran up and hugged each other like crazy as soon as they saw each other. They'd become best friends during the trip through Greece and Rome. So had Jason and I, though he and I didn't do much more than fist bump and say hi.

"I missed you guys so much!" Piper said.

"I wanted to Iris message you guys, but after that one time when you were alone in Jason's cabin..." Annabeth suddenly stopped talking and blushed fiercely.

"Yeah." Jason said. "That was awkward." I hadn't gotten used to seeing him wearing his orange Camp Half Blood T-shirt. Most of the time during that last quest, he'd worn his purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt. I also noticed his glasses, made of Imperial Gold for some reason. I'd always thought that was a bad idea, considering the combination of how easily glasses can break with the fact that Imperial Gold weapons explode when broken. Seriously, it seemed like a horrible idea. Not to mention how big a klutz he'd seemed during the war with Gaia.

"So what've you guys been up to?" Jason asked.

"The worst possible battlefield a demigod can possibly go through." I answered. "High school."

"You're the one who set the chemistry lab on fire." Annabeth pointed out another incident.

"The exchange student was a boread trying to kill me!" I pointed out the reason. When I looked at Piper and Jason, their smiles had faded as they looked down a bit. I'd almost forgotten that fire had alot of nostalgia for them. Our missing friend, Leo, was a son of Hephaestus, with the power of fire, which was rare, even for a demigod of his parentage. He'd blown himself to smithereens to defeat Gaia last year. Since we'd never found his body, or the remains of his automaton dragon, Festus, we'd occassionally hoped that maybe Leo had survived the blast. But our friend Nico, Hades' son, sensed Leo's death, and pointed out he'd been hit with a missile of Imperial Gold which Octavian, the biggest jerk in the history of jerks, had been attached to when he shot it. It was doubtless that Leo had been vaporized with Festus.

"Guys." Annabeth started to apologize for bringing him up. "I..."

Suddenly, Annabeth's apology was interupted by a nearly deafening roar, with an unmistakeable metallic undertone. We all looked up behind me and Annabeth where it had come from, spotting an extremely familiar metallic looking dragon flying overhead towards the camp.

"No way." Jason said.

"Is that...?" Piper asked in shock.

"It can't be." Annabeth pointed out.

We all ran for the camp, unable to believe our eyes. It was Festus, circling over the cabins as a crowd of demigods cheered. We looked closely, spotting two people riding him. One was an extremely familiar looking kid with dark curly hair, a dark green jacket, and what looked like a toolbelt.

"LEO!" we all shouted in unison, shocked beyond words that he was alive.

"WOOOOOOOOO!" the crazed dragon rider shouted in response. Festus started to spiral down, landing on his celestial bronze claws. Leo tried to swing his leg over and drop down and land on his feet, but he failed miserably and slid off the dragon's back sideways, yelping as he land face first on the ground. Everyone's cheers changed to a collective "Ooh." with a 'that's gotta hurt' look. But then, Leo held up one hand. "I'm ok. I meant to do that." Yeah right. We could all tell he'd been dizzy from all the circles. I swear, Leo's ADHD was more obvious than any demigod I've ever known.

The girls ran over to help him up, then both gave him a huge hug.

"Oh my gods! You're here!" Piper screamed, unable to contain her excitement.

Suddenly, Annabeth pulled Leo out of the group hug and punched him in the stomach, pushing him up against the dragon. "YOU BIG JERK! YOU LET US BELIEVE YOU WERE DEAD!" Yep. That's my girlfriend for you. Happy to see you again one minute, pissed at you for disappearing the next. You should have seen her when we met back up again at Camp Jupiter. She kissed me, then judo flipped me and pinned me to the ground after I'd disappeared for all those months.

"WHOA WHOA W HOA! WATCH THE FACE!" Leo said when he'd recovered from the stomach punch. "My girlfriend's always worrying about my injuries.

"GIRLFRIEND?!" Since we'd all known Leo for his habit of falling for girls he had no chance with, like Jason's sister who'd sworn off men for immortality, or an actual Greek goddess, his announcement of having a girlfriend might have been a bigger shock than the fact he was alive. We'd actually almost completely forgotten his passenger until she dismounted Festus, actually waiting for the dragon to lie down and for her vertigo to wear off.

The others didn't know who she was, but I recognized her instantly, immediately feeling awkward because Annabeth was right there too. Her caramel hair was braied over one shoulder and smelled like cinnamon, her milky face and dark eyes making her look immortal, which I didn't know if she still was or not; Calypso. I'd gotten lost once during that third year and ended up on her island, Ogygia. I'd been on the verge of death, but she nursed me back to health. I wasn't trapped on her island, but she was. The Fates would only allow certain people to find the island, the kind of guys she couldn't help but fall in love with, but could never stay.

"Calypso?" I blurted out. Everyone immediately looked at her as well. Annabeth looked especially uneasy. While she and I were in Tartarus, we'd fought these monsters called Arai. They're known as the spirits of curses, and destroying one causes you to feel the pain you inflicted on another. When Annabeth destroyed one back there, she'd taken Calypso's curse, causing her to feel like I'd abandoned her, and making her teleport whenever I got near. I'd never been so scared for her in my life.

"If you don't get your hands off my boyfriend in the next five seconds..." Calypso seemed harder and more angry than I remember, probably because she'd just met Annabeth. Regardless, my girlfriend released her violent grip on Leo before she could finish. I could already tell those two weren't going to be getting along anytime soon. Annabeth came back over to me and I immediately held her hand as if to reassure her that Calypso's arrival wasn't going to change anything between me and her.

Calypso immediately started to check Leo's stomach where Annabeth had punched him. "Are you ok Leo?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." he said. "Don't worry about Annabeth. She doesn't normally do that. You should have seen the time she judo flipped Percy after seeing him again for the first time in months."

"Maybe I should have." Calypso said, not sounding very enthusiastic about meeting Annabeth.

"So you're Calypso?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. The very one." Calypso answered.

"How'd you get off the island?" Piper asked.

"More importantly, how are you still alive?" Nico asked from behind.

"AUGH!" Leo screamed like a little girl and jumped into Calypso's arms, Scooby Doo style. It was so ridiculous, the rest of us just burst out laughing. When he calmed down, a little bit, he looked at Nico. "DON'T DO THAT!" he yelled. Nico's usually off by himself, so whenever he joins a conversation, he scares the crap out of at least one person in the group, usually Leo. Nico's physical appearance doesn't really make it easier for him not to scare people. His skin's paled to an almost ghostly white, with a bluish tint from using his powers so much last year. His black hair looked longer this time, but still shaggy like he'd just gotten out of bed. It almost looked like a grim reaper hood as it hung down his face. His stitches all over his body only added to his unearthly look, causing him to somewhat resemble Frankenstein. He wasn't wearing his shirt from Puerto Rico anymore, but had put his black skull T shirt back on, his black sword of Stygian Iron hanging from his chain belt. He may have been more popular at the camp now, but he still gave people the creeps.

"Why does someone always do that when I join a conversation?" Nico asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's because you look like Death?" Leo pointed out, after Calypso dropped him on the ground and he scrambled up.

"Speaking of which, weren't you dead? I could sense it." Nico pointed out. Yeah. He can sense death. Must be a Hades child thing.

"Yeah, but turns out you have to take that cure for death before you actually die, and there's a delayed reaction." Leo explained.

"But why are you only coming to Camp Half Blood now?" I asked.

"Well, I wanted everyone to be there when I arrived, and I figured most of the campers would be back home by the time I woke up, so Calypso and I went on a little road trip. Festus needed a few repairs too. I even threw in this upgrade I can't wait to show you guys." Leo sounded excited about this. I was curious about what Leo was talking about until he mentioned something else. "And the weirdest thing happened last night. Calypso and I had the same dream. These Spartans were fighting a horde of barbarians until their general summoned Ares."

"Wait a minute." I interupted. Leo's dream already sounded too much like mine to be a coincidence. "Did the Spartan general have red tattooes?" I asked.

"And did he get these two swords attached to his arms by chains?" Jason asked.

"And was Ares' hair on fire?" Nico asked.

"And the barbarian had a huge hammer?" Annabeth asked.

Looking around each other, we all knew we'd had the same dream, which was the worst sign we could possibly get during our reunion.

"This can't be good." Annabeth said what the others were thinking.

"I just thought of something." Jason said. "Hedge said he'd found a new group of demigods didn't he?"

"Yeah. Jason and I were waiting for Hedge to get back from recruiting. Come on. He should be here soon." Piper said. She led the rest of us back to the hill, just as a bus came skidding to a crash, tilting and falling over on its side, starting to catch fire.

"Something tells me Hedge was driving that bus." Leo guess, right before we all ran down there to check.

* * *

 **If you guys are wondering why there was such a difference in tone and mood between the God of War flashback and the rest of the chapter, I'm going to alternate between the brutal, violent, dark style of the God of War games and the light-hearted, comedic style of the Percy Jackson books. And yes, I'm using an AU version of the God of War storyline in order to match consistency with the Percy Jackson books.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2, My brother breaks an arm (not his own)**

 **Heads up guys, this chapter's going to be a bit short. It's also going to be from an OC's point of view. I have other stories I've been meaning to work on, plus I decided to outline summaries of this story's chapters before I write them. Don't expext a pattern with my uploads. My chapters on this story could be a few days apart, or a few months apart.**

* * *

 **Raven**

I knew I shouldn't have let that crazy...whatever he was, drive my mom's minibus. Then again, it might not have been his fault. If my stupid brother hadn't gotten into a fight with that girl the old guy was with, or tried to grab the wheel to go back, we wouldn't have crashed. But I'll let him tell you that story.

Anyway, my head was spinning from the crash. Even after Annabeth pulled me out of the now burning minibus, I could barely think. I saw that Percy guy pull out my brother, Zane, his short black hair messed up and his forehead bleeding, his black leather jacket scratched up from the crash and his black jeans the same way. Jason and Piper pulled out our friends Luna, a redheaded girl with a ponytail (I have one too, but my hair's brown), wearing a grey hoodie and green shorts, and James, a guy with brown spiky hair, wearing a brown vest, yellow T-shirt, and green pants. Sierra, a girl with long black hair tight jeans, a red tank top and leather jacket, pulled out that old satyr, if that's what he really was, out. Sierra was the girl whom Zane had gotten into the argument with that crashed the minibus. If you're wondering how I know their names, the introductions took place later.

James and Luna were unconscious, the satyr guy, Hedge apparently, was stirring, talking in his sleep, like he was watching a football game. My brother probably had a concussion, but was starting to wake up. I could tell when his blood red eyes opened that he was ok. I'd always thought his eyes had a freaky color, but mine are heterochromatic, gold and silver, so who was I to judge? Speaking of which, both of Luna's eyes were silver, and seemed a bit brighter at night. James got lucky in the 'normal eyes' department. His were a deep forest-green.

"Are you guys ok?" Annabeth asked as she and her friends carried us up the hill and put us down, letting Zane and I lean against a nearby tree. James and Luna had been laid on the groud next to it. For some reason, just being next to the tree seemed to make me feel like I was healing faster. I looked up and saw some strange gold blanket hanging from the side away from the road, a serpent-like dragon coiled around the trunk, most likely guarding it.

"Yeah. I think we're ok." I said, right before the minibus exploded.

"What happened back there?" Percy asked.

Before I could answer, this weird monster landed on the remains of the minubus, crushing it on impact. My mom had told me and Zane about something like this. She called it the Chimera, a monster with the tail of a snake, which was hissing at us right now, the body and head of a lion, and the hind legs of a goat, which was the other head. Oddly, the lion head seemed to be on the goat head's neck, as if the lion took control so the chimera could walk bipedal.

"Stay here!" Percy shouted as he, Nico, and Jason ran to fight the creature. They drew swords, one bronze, one gold, the other a black metal I didn't recognize. They started attacking the monster like they did this on a regular basis. When the snake's head lunged at Percy, he rolled out of the way, letting the snake take a bite out of the ground before its neck got slashed, spraying blood like a hose. When they tried attacking the goat head, it breathed gusts of fire a them. It was really fast on its feet...or claws...or hooves...whatever, so it was slashing at them, and after a while, they were starting to tire out from having to dodge around so much while trying to slash the monster too. After a few dodges, Percy and Nico drew the goat's fire while Jason's sword started to charge with electricity. As soon as Percy and Nico drew the goat head to face Jason again, it got a blast of lightning in the face.

The goat head went limp, but then the monster stood on its hind legs, just like I thought it would. As soon as that happened, Jason flew up and shot another blast of lightning at the lion, somehow electricuting it enough to kill it. As if fell backwards, Jason nearly fainted and fell to the ground, being caught by his girlfriend Piper.

Percy stared at the chimera's body for a few seconds, rubbing the back of his head. "This isn't right." he said.

"What's the problem? You beat it!" I shouted at him.

"Yeah." Percy agreed. "But its body isn't dissolving."

Annabeth looked at him in confusion, then stared at the monster in similar disbelief. "He's right. Monsters are supposed to vaporize when we kill them. This one's corpse is still here."

"There's something else. I've fought the chimera before. Back in St. Louis. The goat and lion heads were side by side."

"Will someone please explain to me what the hell's going on already?!" Zane shouted.

Before they could answer him, another chimera leapt out of the woods and made a sound that was somehow a hiss and a growl mixed together.

Percy and Annabeth stared in disbelief, both drawing their swords again. Annabeth's looked like it was made of some kind of bone. "That's impossible." Annabeth said in disbelief and shock. "There's supposed to be only one."

"But there's two of these things! So what are they?!" Percy shouted.

My eyes zeroed in on one of its clawed forelegs. The talons were covered in blood, my mom's. I had to fight back my tears with all I had to avoid losing it around my brother. I needed to be strong for him. But when I looked at him, I could see him seething with anger, building until he glared with absolute hatred at the thing.

"YOU!" he shouted. He shot to his feet, making a run for the monster. The guys who had saved us tried to stop him, but he shoved them out of the way without even slowing down. I tried to run after him, but Leo held me back.

"STOP!" Percy shouted at Zane, but my half-brother didn't listen. He just ran for the chimera, screaming in rage. As soon as the monster saw him, it raised a lion paw and prepared to either smash or slash him. As he brought it down, time seemed to slow down. I was screaming for Zane to come back. I'd already lost my mom that day. I couldn't lose him too. But there was no stopping Zane from throwing that punch. As soon as his fist collided with the chimera's lion paw, I heard a loud, resounding, echoing crack through the air. I was horrified. For a moment, I assumed the chimera's strength had crushed Zane's skeleton.

But when the chimera roared in pain and pulled his foreleg back, dangling it like an injured dog would, everyone stared in shock.

"What the Tartarus?" Nico said.

Zane didn't even seem to get that he'd broken a monster's arm. He just started climbing up the other one onto the beast's back. The snake head lunged for Zane, but he caught it by the length of its fangs, slamming them into the goat's eyes. It screamed as Zane stomped on the snake head, shoving it so it could embed itself in the goat head. He then kept his food on the snake head, then grabbed its neck and pulled until he ripped the snake's head from the rest of the tail. The chimera seemed more disoriented than before, as if the goat head was trying to stay in control, but the lion head was fighting to stand up. Zane immediately grabbed its horn and pulled with all his might, breaking it off within a few seconds and jumped off the creature's back, right before the goat head died, allowing the lion to take control. It stood up, staring at Zane, who immediately threw the horn with unbelievable strength, not to mention enough accuracy to make it land in the lion's mouth and actually stick out through the back of the goat's neck.

The chimera made choking noises before falling to its knees, then landing on its lion face. Zane stared at the face down corpse, panting heavily before he doubled over and passed out, either from the concussion or exhaustion. Regardless, I ran over to make sure he was ok, picking him up in my arms.

"Get him to the Big House!" Nico shouted, putting his hand on my shoulder to lead the way. I ran for it, fearing for Zane's life, but also amazed by what he just did. Those other guys had almost died taking down that one chimera, but Zane took out the other one in just a few seconds. What that girl said about him being a demigod was starting to make sense, but even after it happened right in front of me, I could still barely believe it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3, My world changes in an instant**

* * *

Your life really does flash before your eyes, well...everything up to that morning did anyway. I guess I should probably explain the rest.

You see, my dad left my mom before I was even born. I'd never met him or even had a clue who he was until that summer. I'd always figured he and my mom just had a one-night stand, and that was it. Either way, I guess Raven's dad, no, not the same guy, found out my mom cheated on him, and just left all three of us alone. Long story short, I grew up without a dad.

Mom homeschooled the both of us, which wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't live in her minibus on an endless road trip. It didn't really allow much of a social life. Most of the time, whenever we stayed in one place long enough to make a few friends, it was time for us to leave again. Eventually, I just stopped trying. I'd usually go off my myself and just watch the portable TV or play video games.

It's not like I've never had non-related friends before. A few days ago, before arriving in New York, we'd come across James and Luna, hitchhiking on a lonely stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. They said they didn't really have homes to go back to, so mom asked them if they wanted to come with us.

This morning, Mom got us to Manhattan and started driving around to see the sights. She was a blogger, so most of our road trips, when we weren't in the middle of homeschooling lessons, were spent checking out picturesque locations and events. She was also a web designer, since blogging isn't a real money maker.

Anyway, we were checking out a wrecked cabin on a beach on Long Island. The locals kept saying it was a storm that blew it over, but it actually looked smashed in somehow. And it smelled a bit like cows. I couldn't tell for sure, but it was a guess.

"You sure it was a storm that wrecked this place?" Raven asked. She was sitting on a rock nearby, waiting for mom to stop taking pictures of every single hole in the place. Seriously, it looked like it had been used as a punching bag, repeatedly.

"That's what the locals told me, but I doubt it." Mom said. Her camera hung from around her neck as her long brown hair waved in the wind. She tried to keep it out of her face, but every once in a while, she had to brush it back with her hand, while simultaneously trying to spit it out of her mouth. Whenever she did, her brown eyes were more visible. It had just rained, so it was a bit cool outside for summer. I had my leather jacket on, which was actually less warm than it seemed because it was a bit thinner than most. Mom had a simple red hoodie on with her jeans. Raven had on a white long sleeve shirt with a black vest and jeans. James and Luna were waiting in the minibus, and I was starting to wish I was still with them.

"I still don't see how this will get page views on your blog, Mom." I said, trying to subtley protest against standing out there much longer. I wanted to go back to the bus and play Devil May Cry, but for Mom, those photo shoots were like family outings. She wanted us to see it too.

Mom stopped taking pictures for a minute, then looked at me. "Zane...one of these days...you'll see how much people miss...when it's right under their noses." I just looked at her like she was taking her obssession with strange phenomenon way too seriously. She had a way of doing that, trying to see more than there really was. Now, I wish I'd listened to her more.

"Is something like that what happened with Dad?" I asked. Mom looked like she didn't want to talk. I knew this was a sore subject, but she never talked about this. I felt like I at least to deserve to know who my real father was.

"It was my fault. But if I hadn't, you wouldn't have been born Zane." She was talking about what happened with Raven's dad, my former stepdad. Mom cheated on him, and the result was me. When I was just five, my stepdad got suspiscious of my black hair and red eyes. Since neither him nor my mom have traits like that, he wanted a DNA test. That shouldn't have been enough to make him suspiscious, but he knew my mom had been acting suspiscious and distant about a year before I was born. No matter how many times I asked, I couldn't get a straight answer about my birthdad.

"Mom...you know which dad I'm talking about." I decided to be direct with her. I was determined to find out this time. I'd get my wish later that day and find out, but nowhere near the way I would have wanted to know. She didn't answer. She just looked at her camera like it was a gift from Dad, even though Raven and I'd gotten it for her birthday last year. What my dad actually gave her was this solid gold locket, with what looked like an upside down 'V' on the lid in red rhinestones. It reminded me of shields used by Spartans. Ancient Greece had always seemed to be my mom's favorite part of the history lessons. As far back as I can remember, I've never ever seen Mom without it. Like most times, when I asked about my real dad, she'd put a hand over it, as if she was trying to hide it.

"Zane..." Raven tried to interrupt, like I was still overstepping a boundary. She was always interrupting me when I tried to find out about my dad. It was killing me being kept clueless about my real father. But since Mom's affair made her dad leave, I guess Raven didn't feel the same way. I guess she wanted her own dad back, and to pretend mine never existed.

"It's fine Raven." Mom said, trying to stop a fight before it started. She looked at me. "Zane, I know you deserve to know about your father."

"Then why don't I know anything about him?" I insisted on an answer this time. "You've kept me in the dark about this my whole life."

"I'm sorry Zane. Your father wanted the time to be right before you found out. He said I'd know when that was."

"Well what 'right time' am I supposed to wait for?"

"There's a lot about your father to find out. I guess he wants to tell you himself one of these days."

"And how am I supposed to meet him?"

"Zane...one day, you'll find out everything...but until then..." She didn't get to finish before we heard the sound of a monstrous roar. A bizarre creature, resembling a lion, but its head facing down, a goat head growing out the back of its neck, facing forward, the goat's legs where the lion's back paws should have been, and a huge green snake for the tail. I recognized it; a chimera. But the heads were supposed to be side by side, not arranged to alternate between walking on four or two legs.

"No. No! NO! NOT NOW!" Mom shouted. It was like she was expecting this at another time, but today was the worst time possible.

"What is it!?" Raven asked in fear. "What's going on?!"

Mom's answer was interrupted by a football coach wielding an oversized baseball bat, screaming "DIE DIE DIE!" at the top of his lungs. The coach had leapt into the air and landed on the chimera's head, slamming the huge bat onto it, knocking the beast senseless. The crazy man held on for dear life as a girl ran up to us, wielding a bronze sword.

"SIERRA! GET THOSE TWO TO THEIR BUS! I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!" the psycho said.

"Wait!" I shouted. "What's going on here?!"

"We'll explain later!" Sierra told me, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me up the beach. The four of us made a mad dash back to Mom's minibus.

"What's going on? Who's this?" Luna asked, not knowing what was happening when Sierra pulled us to the bus.

"No time to explain! Get in! Coach Hedge can't hold that..." Sierra was interrupted by the slightly distant, but growing scream of the crazy guy, who I assumed was this Coach Hedge guy. Apparently, he'd been thrown off the chimera's head as he crash landed on the ground next to us.

"I think we'd better get going!" he said right before scrambling up.

"Then come on!" Sierra pulled me to get in.

The chimera came scrambling up the hill, then spotted us and roared. I was about to get in the minibus, but Mom was just standing there with a hand on her locket.

"Mom! Get in!" I shouted, but she didn't answer.

"Sierra! Coach Hedge!" She shouted, then turned to us. "Get Zane, Raven, and the others to the camp."

I realized what she was doing. "No! Mom! Don't do it!"

"Zane!" Mom hugged me tight. "You're going to find your answers soon, but be strong." She hugged Raven next. "Take care of your brother. Promise me you'll help keep him safe!" Mom shouted.

Raven had tears in her eyes, but nodded. "Ok Mom. I promise." she said, her voice shaky.

Mom hugged us both, crying. "I love you two so much! Stay safe, stay together, and stay strong." she told us, sobbing.

For the first time in my entire life, she pulled off her locket. "I'll hold him off as long as I can." She pushed the latch to open it, and with a flash of red energy, it turned into a spear and shield, like the kind used by Spartans. My stomach was in knots. I had no idea what was going on. I was so confused, I didn't register how she was running off to fight that thing.

"MOM!" I shouted, trying to run after her to stop her, but Raven and Hedge held me back.

"ZANE! GET IN THE BUS! MOM TOLD US TO STAY SAFE!" Raven shouted, trying to drag me inside.

"NO! WE HAVE TO SAVE HER! SHE'S GOING TO..." I didn't get to finish my protests before I blacked out. Apparently, someone knocked me out from behind.

When I came too, I could make out the sound of Raven and Sierra arguing.

"Well, you didn't have to hit him so hard!" Raven shouted. "You could have given him a concussion or something!"

"You saw how he was freaking out!" Sierra protested, my attacker revealed. "What if he'd broken your grip and ran off?!"

"Well, you're not helping the situation now! Mom's dead, and Zane's going to lose it!"

I suddenly shot up. "MOM'S DEAD?!" I shouted in rage. Raven looked at me with worry, Sierra with annoyance. "YOU BASICALLY KIDNAP US AND LEAVE MY MOM BACK THERE TO DIE?!" I stomped my way towards Sierra and Raven.

"Zane! Calm down! Mom stayed behind to give us a head start!" Raven put her hands on my chest, trying to hold me back from attacking, but I couldn't think to listen. My mom was dead and I was powerless to help her.

"YOU TWO CAN OBVIOUSLY FIGHT THOSE THINGS! YOU COULD HAVE HELPED HER!"

"Cool your jets crazy!" Sierra shouted at me. "We were only supposed to get the four of you! Your mom's not like you guys. She's only mortal. She can't follow us to the camp."

"Camp?" Luna suddenly asked. "What camp? Would one of you guys please explain to us what's going on here?!"

"Yeah!" James added. "What happened to Lisa? And what do you mean she's not like us?!" Lisa was my mom's actual first name in case you were wondering.

"We're almost there. I'll explain when we get there." Sierra tried to calm us down.

"NO! YOU'RE EXPLAINING WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON RIGHT NOW!" I yelled.

"DO YOU HAVE A CHILL THE HELL OUT SWITCH?! ALL OF US DEMIGODS HAVE PROBLEMS OF OUR OWN, AND WE MOVE ON LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!"

"TURN THE DAMN BUS AROUND!" I shouted, shoving Raven aside, but Sierra grabbed my shoulder.

"SIT DOWN PSYCHOPATH!"

"I SAID TURN AROUND!" I lost it, shoving her at Hedge in the driver's seat. I shouldn't have been able to throw her that far, but she hit the seat, flipped over it, and crashed into Hedge, causing him to lose control of the bus, sending us all into a tumbling in the bus before it crashed and we blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4, I get a Tour and a Challenge**

 **I should probably clarify something. The last chapter was from Zane's point of view.**

 **Zane's POV**

* * *

I woke up to the sound of Raven talking to someone.

"Are you sure?" the guy said.

"I'm positive Will. I'm one hundred percent human." Raven said. I don't know how she knew the guy's name, but I figured she'd been introduced while I was out. "My dad made Mom take a DNA test with both me and Zane to confirm. Mine came back as a positive match with both parents. Zane's DNA test came back matching Mom's DNA, but not Dad's."

"That still means Zane's a demigod. He didn't burst into flames when we gave him Ambrosia." said the guy I now figured was Will.

"Is that why he's basically like Hercules?"

"Not quite. The actual **Heracles** is the Greek god of strength. Zane's nowhere near his level. But that's a good point about his apparent super strength. Heracles might be his dad."

"Who's Heracles? I said Hercules."

"Same thing, but Hercules is actually the Roman version of the demigod-turned god."

"How does a demigod turn into an actual god?"

"It's actually not unheard of."

"Wait. Demigods? Hercules?" I interupted, able to think straight. What were they talking about? They were talking about these Greek myths as if they were real. Boy was I in for a surprise.

"Zane!" Raven panicked as she rushed over to me. "Are you ok?" she asked, freaking out over whether or not I was alright.

"I'm fine Raven. Calm down." I told her, trying to sit up, but that Will guy tried to push me back down on the bed.

"Hey! Easy does it there Incredible Hulk. You just woke up after passing out from exhaustion and a possible concussion. You need bedrest. Doctor's orders."

"Oh let the guy get up Will!" said another voice. As soon as I saw him, I freaked out and flipped over the other side of the bed. He basically looked like death, so you can imagine how his sudden appearance scared the crap out of me. "Why does everyone do that when I show up?"

"Dude! You look like death!" I told him, very bluntly, as I got up and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"My dad's Hades, Greek god of the Underworld. Name's Nico."

"Well you sure look the part." I said.

"Are you sure he's ok?" Raven asked, trying to change the subject.

"Again, we don't know if he really does have a concussion." Will interjected.

"Dude. You saw how fast the cut on his forehead healed didn't you? Besides, you saw what he did to that chimera...thing...whatever it was. Maybe his super strength includes fast healing, even if it did leave a scar."

"Wait!" I interrupted, hoping to get answers. "That actually happened?"

"Yeah dude. You actually took down a massive chimera singlehandedly." Nico told me, sounding impressed.

"With a concussion for all we know." Will added.

"Shut up!" Nico finally told him. "Just go check on those other two they were with!" Will and Nico glared at each other as the 'doctor' went to check on James and Luna.

"So my mom..." My voice started to crack. I didn't care what happened with the chimera. My mom's death was finally sinking in. Raven started to hug me, something she hadn't done since her dad left. She was obviously just as shaken up about mom as I was, but was trying to pull us both together. It was obvious what was happening right then. We were both on the edge of breaking down, but were trying to pull outselves together to keep each other strong.

I decided to try and change the subject before I lost it. "So what were you two talking about? What did you mean by demigod?" I asked.

"They mean that while your mom was human, your dad is a Greek god." Said a female voice from behind us. The owner of this voice didn't give me the same reaction as Nico did. This girl was seriously hot.

"She has a boyfriend." Raven whispered in my ear. Something told me I'd gotten wide-eyed when she came in.

 _Dammit._ Hey. Can I help it if I'm easily distracted?

"It's Piper right?" Raven asked the hot girl, whom I should probably start calling Piper before her boyfriend shoots me with lightning.

"Yeah." she answered. She walked over to where Raven and I were sitting. "Nico, why don't you let me give them the tour while you help with the cleanup.

"Alright." Nico walked out. Before he was out of eyesight, I heard him say "Since when do monsters leave corpses anyway?"

"I'm sorry about your mom." Piper said, sitting down on the bed across from us. "I can't guess what you're going through, but I can tell you feel like your life just turned completely upside down in a matter of seconds, and it'll never be the same again."

"That about sums it up." I said, trying to wrap my head about what she said about my dad being a Greek god. Could that be why he left my mom after just one night? Mom told me the gods of Olympus had a habit of sleeping with mortals, and having kids with supernatural powers based on that union, but like everything else she ever told me about the Greek myths, they were just stories to me. It finally made sense who Mom wanted us to travel so much. For all I knew, she was trying to find Dad again, looking at anything that had a hint of the supernatural.

"So which one of the gods is your parent?" Raven asked.

"Aphrodite. Goddess of love and beauty." Piper answered.

"No surprise there." I blurted out, earning a smack upside the head from Raven.

"Boyfriend! Remember?" my sister reminded me.

"It's ok. I'm used to it. Sometimes my Charmspeak triggers before I even know it." Piper told us, giggling a bit first.

"Charmspeak?" I asked.

"It's like a Jedi mind trick, but by talking."

"Ah. Got it."

"Why don't I give you the tour? I should probably warn you that you're the talk of camp right now. The way you took out that Chimera has everyone talking."

"Me?" I asked. I didn't see why anyone could be talking about me like that. Either way, just being around a girl as hot as Piper sounded like just what I needed, even if she had a boyfriend. "Well, I guess I could use a stretch." I said, getting up.

"Dude." Raven said, implying I really wasn't getting that Piper wasn't single.

"It's ok Raven. There's plenty of pretty girls at this camp to distract Zane from me, including the new unclaimed girl." Piper interrupted for me.

"Unclaimed?" I asked.

"It means we don't know who her godly parent is yet. She's really pretty, but scares just about all the guys that have tried to hit on her." Piper told me as we walked out of the Big House. "We thought she was an Aphrodite kid like me at first, but she told us she already knew her mom was human, so now we're thinking it's Eros."

"Who's he?"

"You might have heard of his Roman version, Cupid, the god of the more...'physical' kind of love."

"Roman version?"

"Yeah. The gods have two versions of themselves, Greek and Roman. This camp is for Greek demigods. My boyfriend, Jason, is actually from the camp for Roman demigods, Camp Jupiter."

"Why did the Ancient Greeks need so many gods anyway? And they have Roman twins? That's confusing on so many levels."

"Just don't try to figure out who's related to who. Your brain will explode. And the Roman versions aren't twins. Their the same gods, but with new names. Jason's a son of Jupiter, but his sister is a daughter of Zeus, the same god."

"So a Greek demigod with a Roman sibling? Does that happen alot?"

"Not usually, but when it happens, the Greek and Roman siblins usually end up really close. Like Nico. His original sister died a few years ago, but when he met Hazel, his Roman half sister, they started to seem like real siblings."

Already, I could noticed campers reacting to me. Whether it was fear, excitement, silent shock, or jealousy, I'd clearly made an impression on these campers. One girl started giggling with her friends as soon as she saw me, starting to wave flirtatiously. I was liking this camp already.

"Will said I might be a Heracles kid. That's the actual Greek name of Hercules right?"

"Yeah. For some reason, people just keep calling him by his Roman name all the time. But that could give you some serious street cred around here if you're his son. He's the most famous hero in Greek mythology. He's one of those cases where a demigod actually transcended into a god. My friend Percy was offered that chance, but turned it down."

I stopped listening when she talked about Percy, because then I saw an even hotter girl around the volleyball courts. Her orange T-shirt, which a lot of the campers wore, fit tightly around her, leaving little to the imagination. Same with her shorts, only reaching the top of her legs. She somewhat had curves, but they were in all the right places. Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall down to the middle of her back. She looked like the sexy girl action movies usually added.

"Oh yeah. That's the girl I told you about." Piper told me when she noticed I'd stopped following her. "I gotta warn you though. She's a deadly beauty. Her name's Sierra."

 _SIERRA?!_ My 'love at first sight' reaction suddenly vanished when I heard her name. It was the girl from the bus, who'd made me crash the car, as well as kidnapped me and let my mom die. I stomped right over to her, fuming at the very sight of her.

"HEY!" I shouted. She turned and leaned against the fence when she saw me.

"Up already Scarface?" she asked, already teasing me about my forehead.

"DON'T START WITH ME!" I shouted again. "YOU MADE ME CRASH THE BUS AND KIDNAPPED ME!"

"Excuse me. I saved your life back there! You, your sister, and your friends. Your mom stayed behind to give you a head start."

"You could have fought that thing instead of her! You're obviously trained to handle something like that! YOU GOT RAVEN INSIDE THE BUS, BUT YOU REFUSED TO GO BACK FOR MY MOM?!"

"Your mom wasn't like you and your sister. Hedge's demigod detector, which was destroyed in the bus crash thanks to you, picked up four demigod signatures. Your sister's mortal, but she obviously has some kind of demigod level powers."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! YOU LET MY MOM DIE!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT?! YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHOSE LOST PEOPLE YOU PSYCHOTIC..."

"ENOUGH!" said an older voice from my left. I turned and saw a centaur in a tweed jacket. I should have been freaking out, but after what had already happened today, nothing could surprise me anymore, at least...that's what I thought at the time.

"Chiron!" Sierra said, surprise in her voice. Mom told me about someone called Chiron once. He was supposedly a trainer of heroes.

"Raven told me about your clashing tempers ever since you two met. If you actually need to fight it out to settle your differences, you'll settle it in the arena."

"Chiron, they're already at each other's throats and you want to arm them?" Piper asked.

"If it'll help them take out their frustrations towards each other, we'll give them stun sabers in a gladiator match." Chiron said.

"I thought gladiators were Roman. Isn't this the Greek demigod camp?" I asked.

"It was Jason's idea." Piper answered.

Sierra and I stared down. I could actually feel her anger at me, and assumed she could feel mine. Suddenly, a fight with her in the arena seemed like the best idea I'd heard all day. But boy were we both in for surprises for that fight.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5, Our fight has a VERY unexpected twist**

 **Zane's POV**

 **Sorry if this chapter seems really short. Didn't think much would be needed for this one. But trust me. It'll be worth the short read.**

* * *

When Piper told me I'd become the talk of the camp, I didn't think there's be such a huge turnout for my first arena match. As far as I could tell, every demigod at camp showed up. I wondered if they divided the seats so the campers would sit with their half siblings, like with the cabins Piper told me about after the argument on the volleyball field.

I couldn't tell for sure, but I saw this one really muscular girl with stringy red hair sitting with a bunch of crazy, muscular, rough looking demigods. I assumed they were her siblings. They looked like they were itching to see a fight. Something told me they were Ares' kids. For reasons I couldn't explain, until later anyway, just looking at them made me feel mad, like they'd given me a hard time before and would do it again if I didn't deal with them. I figured if I could intimidate them in the fight, they might leave me alone.

Sierra walked into the arena, shooting a glare at me as she came in before ignoring me and talking to Percy and Annabeth. I was talking to Jason, whom Piper introduced me to when I came in. Thankfully, she'd left out the part where I had been hitting on her.

"Remember how your mom always said to never hit a girl?" Jason asked, earning an annoyed look from me for reminding me of my mom. "Oh..." Jason said awkwardly. "Well, now's the time to do the opposite." Something told me the guy wasn't too bright for a Big Three kid.

Piper smacked him upside the head and turned to me. "Don't worry about hurting her. You'll both be using stun swords. First one to get knocked unconscious loses." She handed me what looked like the handle and crossguard of a sword. I took it, then looked at them like they were crazy.

"Is this a joke?" I asked. "I'm supposed to knock her out with this?"

"Trust us. Sierra has one too. You'll need it for the fight." Jason told me.

 **Rob Zombie - Superbeast**

A wrestling bell told me it was time for the fight. I looked over at Sierra, and she was already walking to the center.

"Good luck." Piper told me.

I nodded in acknowledgement and stood in the center of the ring, face to face with Sierra. Our eyes locked in a staredown. Whether from hostility about my mom's death, or something else, we were trying to see which one would show fear first. Niether of us would.

"First one to lose consciousness loses." Chiron announced with an echo through the arena. He stood in what looked like the Emperor's box in the Roman Colloseum. I guess that was Jason's idea too. "Ready..." The centaur raised his hand. Sierra and I got into fighting stances, our sword-handles finally revealing two 3-foot long, blue holographic energy blades.

"Fight!" The instant Chiron threw his hand down, Sierra and I immediately charged at each other, blades raised.

As our swords locked, a shower of sparks started pouring from the force of each blade pushing against the other. I managed to pushed her off, making her stagger backwards before coming at me again. Our swords started to clang against each other over and over, shooting sparks and flashes of light whenever the holographic blades collided. It later reminded me of a lightsaber duel from Star Wars.

I eventually managed to get a lucky strike at her hand, making her drop her sword. Thinking I had the upper hand, I started slashing at her like a storm. Unfortunately, she was too fast and managed to dodge my attacks. When she ducked under a horizontal swing, she managed to kick the sword out of my hand, into the audience, tazing a poor random camper, knocking him unconscious.

Losing our weapons didn't slow down our fight for a second. It just turned into an MMA fight. Sword slashes were replaced with punches and kicks. I could hear the crowd's cheers get louder as it escalated.

Eventually, I got a lucky kick at her stomach, launching her into a wall. Alot of the campers gasped at what happened, but Sierra just got right back up, brushing dust off her jacket with little more reaction than annoyance.

"You may be stronger, but I'm a better fighter!" she shouted. Then, a blood red glow lit up the arena. Everyone's eyes were glued to Sierra. When she looked up, she spotted the source of their fascination. A holographic image of a red Spartan helmet hovered above her head, slowly spinning like a lighthouse. The campers that I assumed were Ares' kids all did a collective spittake. That's when it hit me. Taking one look at the Ares kids in the stands, it was impossible to assume that Sierra, who looked like an incredibly hot biker chick, would be related to them. I guessed she took more after her mom.

Chiron stood up, I guess. I don't know if centaurs can sit down. "Hail Sierra, daughter of Ares, god of war." he said. I saw Sierra's reaction to being claimed as Ares' daughter. She wasn't happy.

"You gotta be kidding! HIM?! SERIOUSLY?!" She seemed angry at who was the one that claimed her. Then, she looked at me, did a double take at the hologram, and changed from shock to anger again. "You see Scarface?!" she shouted, pointing at the hologram before it disappeared. "You can't beat the daughter of a war god! My dad practically invented combat!" She then screamed her head off and charged at me. But when she threw a punch, and I caught it, something else happened.

The room suddenly lit up with a wierd gray light. I looked around, then saw my hand had turned to an ash-like gray, just like the moon, as if my skin was covered in glowing ashes. When I looked down my arm, I could see red marks glowing through my clothes; a red stripe curving across the left side of my chest, over my shoulder, and ending in a curl on my left bicep.

Sierra's anger suddenly disappeared and was replaced with shock and confusion. "What the hell?!" she asked. She backed off, staring at me. Chiron jumped down from the balcony; how exactly do horses jump off a balcony like that and land on their feet...hooves?

"Come with me." he told me quietly, starting to pull me by the arm. I tried to protest, wanting answers. I could see about seven other campers following us, including Piper, Jason, Nico, and Raven. Chiron pulled me all the way back to the Big House, trying to shut the door behind him, but the others pushed their way in before he could.

"All of you get out!" Chiron shouted at them.

"Chiron, I know a claiming when I see one, and this time, you didn't exactly tell anyone who it is." Percy told him.

"Percy's right." said Annabeth. "Who is Zane's godly parent?"

"Annabeth, you need to trust me on this! Zane's godly parent is a very serious issue!" Chiron tried to keep them calm.

"What's the big deal about who claimed Zane? Is it his new face tattoo?" Another kid asked.

"What?!" I shouted, looking for something reflective. Sure enough, a red mark had appeared on my face, a red stripe going down the left side of my forehead, then bending to move alone my nose. "What the hell?"

"Leo! You're not helping!" Chiron shouted. "Just please, everyone wait outside!"

"Chiron, you need to tell us what's going on right now!" Jason shouted. Everyone started shouting all at once, an argument breaking out over Chiron needing to tell me who had claimed me. I could see the old centaur rubbing his temples, trying to calm down long enough to block out all the simultaneous shouting.

"ALRIGHT!" he finally shouted, cutting off everyone's yelling. "I'll tell you all, but please don't mention this to the other campers yet."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked. "How bad can it be? What is he? A Big 3 demigod?"

"Zane's father is a destroyer god. One who was erased from mythology and history." Chiron answered.

Everyone's impatience shut down, obviously now nervous about what they just heard. I couldn't understand either. I was the son of an apocalyptic god? How was that possible?

"What do you mean 'destroyer god'?" Annabeth asked. "The Greeks didn't have a destroyer god."

"Zane's father is the forgotten god of defiance and destruction. He fought his way through the ranks of Olympus, trapped the Big 3 and other gods in Tartarus, released the Titans, awakened Gaia, and brought a reign of chaos to the world."

Chiron's words hit me like a tidal wave. My dad was an enemy of the gods? Did that mean I was in trouble just for being born? I sat down in the nearest chair as my legs started to weaken from shock. My day just kept getting worse and worse. It felt like there was no end to the impossible discoveries that day. But on the bright side, I was finally starting to get some real, straightforward answers, and I knew exactly which question to ask next. "What was his name?" I asked.

"He went by many titles; Ghost of Sparta, Destroyer of Worlds, Marked Warrior, Oathbreaker, Fallen God, God of Defiance and Destruction, but only one was his true name...Kratos."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6, I finally get some answers**

 **This is where my rewrite of the God of War storyline comes into play, in order to maintain consistency with the PJO storyline. Sorry if the writing seems lazy. There's quite a few contradictions between God of War and Percy Jackson.**

 **Zane's POV**

* * *

"Chiron, I've gone through all the mythology books I could find, and I've never heard of anyone named Kratos." Annabeth said.

"It's a very long story, one that, as I believe I've told you already, was erased from all the history books." Chiron said while opening a secret compartment in the wall to take out some dusty old scroll. After dusting it off, he trotted over to the table.

"What could be so bad about this Kratos guy, that the gods had to pretend he never existed?" Percy asked.

"We were all sworn to absolute secrecy about this." Chiron said. I responded by stomping over to the table and slamming my hands on it. I'd had it. I'd finally found out who my dad is, but his whole existence was supposed to be a bigger secret than Area 51?! I wanted answers, and I was ready to start demanding them.

"NO! I'VE FINALLY STARTED TO GET ANSWERS AROUND HERE, AND THERE IS NO WAY I'M LETTING YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT THIS!" I slammed my fist down on the table, smashing right through it. I was pissed. I'd just been claimed a minute ago and I absolutely refused to let wnyone who knew the answers clam up on me.

"Fine." Chiron agreed, sighing as he picked up the scroll and walked to another desk, starting to unroll the scroll on it as the rest of us gathered on the other side, me standing in front.

As the old centaur opened the scroll, I immediately spotted a picture that had to be Kratos, my dad apparently. He looked like he was at peak physical position, with muscles like a WWE wrestler. What made it obvious he was my dad was the moon-gray skin and red tattoos, which looked exactly like the ones I'd recently gotten. Without the gray skin and tattoos, you might not be able to tell he was my dad. He was bald, but since he had a black goatee, I guessed he shaved. He was wearing greaves and bracers, each with chains wrapped around them, a red leather loincloth with a line of weird square spirals along it, and nothing else for some reason.

I almost didn't notice Piper and Annabeth looking over my shoulder until I heard their reactions.

"Whoa!" Piper gasped.

"And I thought Piper's dad was ripped." Annabeth said.

"Hey!" Percy and Jason said. I guess they felt a little jealous from their girlfriends' remarks. "Wait a minute." Percy stepped past the girls and stood on my left, leaning in to look at the picture. That's when I saw the blades in his hands, chained to his arms. "That's the warrior I saw in my dream. Even after seeing them once, I'd recognize those blades anywhere."

When he mentioned it, I remembered a similar dream as well. It was incredibly vivid, but I just ignored it, treating it as another dream.

"Oh yeah. That's the Spartan general from the dream. He was fighting this barbarian king before making a deal with Ares. He got those blades from the war god." Annabeth said. The three of us turned to look at the others, figuring out we'd all had the same dream.

"This can't be a coincidence." Chiron said, regaining out attention. "All of you having the same dream about Kratos' deal with Ares, then Kratos' son arriving at the camp the next day?"

"What's the deal with my dad anyway?" I asked.

"It's a bit of a long story Zane. Let me start from the beginning." Chiron started to slide the scroll open more. "Back in the Age of the gods, Kratos was a mere general in a Spartan army. Though he started with about 50 soldiers, it soon grew to thousands. With each battle and victory, his pride and lust for power grew, wanting more conquest as the battles came and went. One day, when facing a barbarian army, the Spartans were overpowered and almost fell, until their general, Kratos, called out to Ares, the god of war. Swearing an oath of allegiance to the war god, Kratos became Ares' champion and servant, gaining the Blades of Chaos as a symbol of his servitude."

"That part, we saw in the dream." Percy said.

"Yeah. What happened next?" I asked.

"Kratos served Ares loyally for a time, raiding villages and spreading chaos in his master's name. But one attack on a village of Athena's followers changed everything. Killing Athenians left and right, Kratos charged into a temple dedicated to the wisdom goddess, swinging his Blades of Chaos through all the people inside. Through the smoke of the war fires, Kratos didn't see who he was killing, until it was too late. In his blind rage...Kratos was tricked into killing his own...wife and daughter."

I could hear the others gasp and mumble. "Oh my gods." I heard Annabeth whisper. When I turned, she had her hand over her mouth, obviously from horror. I couldn't blame her. Although for me, it started to make sense why my dad left my mom in the first place. But I still didn't get why he was with her to begin with.

"Just keep going Chiron. There's gotta be more to it than that." I said, trying to get the backstory going again.

"As Kratos burned the bodies of his family on a pyre and mourned them, the village oracle came to Kratos, placing a curse on him. As his wife and daughter's bodies burned, the ashes flew from the flames and attached to Kratos' skin, marking him forever, and giving him the infamous title, the Ghost of Sparta."

"Just like how I was claimed right? Moon-gray skin? But wait a minute. What's with the tattoo?" I interrupted.

"That's another story. Anyway, Kratos broke his allegiance to Ares, choosing to no longer serve the war god, but asking the other gods for forgiveness. They tasked him into their service. He served the gods for ten years before his chance at revenge came at last. Athena charged him with retrieving Pandora's Box from its hiding place on Mount Othrys." Chiron slid the scroll open more to a picture of a metal box. On two sides each facing away from each other, a demonic face screamed. On the other parallel sides, two faces, each baring the face of an old man with horns, faced away from each other. On the lid, six ghoulish faces circled the top. Within the faces, and on the flat parts of the sides of the box, the metal glowed with a orange flame.

"That's not it." Percy jumped in. All eyes turned to him. "That's not Pandora's Box. I've seen the real thing. It's not even an actual box. It was some kind of jar."

"Right Percy. This isn't the Pandora's Pithos you were given by Prometheus during the war. This is a different artifact altogether. I suspect this object is a decoy that caused the legends to confuse its name for a box." Chiron explained.

"But what was it really?" I asked.

"I don't know. But back to the story, Athens had come under siege by Ares. Athena wanted Kratos to use a great power hidden in the box to fight her brother. Using it to grow to a massive side, Kratos battled his former master, but was forced to relive the night his wife and daughter died once more. Kratos fought his hardest to defend his family from clones of himself, but his Blades of Chaos were taken back and turned on their images, forcing him to watch them die again. Unarmed, Kratos was about to fall to Ares, but then spotted one last gift from the gods, the Blade of Olympus. Using this new weapon, Kratos defeated his former master, taking the war god's fire-weapons as trophies. But instead of killing Ares, Kratos used part of the magic he'd collected to chain him up and send him to Tartarus, wanting him to suffer for eternity."

"Whoa!" Percy said. "He overthrew Ares? The god of war? Who practically invented combat?"

"The very one Percy. I'm sure you know just how impressive such a feat is, and how impossible it seems."

"What happened next?" I asked, wanting to get the answers soon.

"The gods did forgive Kratos for his past sins, but they could not remove the nightmares from his mind. Attempting to cast himself from the highest point in Greece, Kratos attempted to end his own life, and his suffering, but was denied this suicide. The gods had other plans for the Ghost of Sparta. Saving Kratos from a fate of his own doing, Athena gave Kratos a new set of chain swords, identical to the Blades of Chaos, but these Blades of Athena were a gift with no strings attached. With an empty throne on Olympus, the gods chose Kratos, a human who'd accomplished the impossible, as the new god of war."

"Well, obviously, that didn't last long, or everything that happened when I came to Camp Half Blood when I was twelve would have never happened." Percy said.

"Correct Percy. Kratos' happy ending was not to last. Kratos once again began a campaign in the pursuit of power. During a siege on Rhodes, Athena urged Kratos to cease his warpath. Kratos ignored her pleas, stepping down to the Earth to aid his Spartans in the battle. But then Kratos was attacked by a magical eagle, whom he believed to be Athena. Shrinking Kratos down to human size, the eagle also put a spell on the Colossus of Rhodes, bringing it to life and making it attack Kratos and the Spartans. In his fight against the Colossus, Kratos was called out to by Zeus, telling him to put all his powers into the Blade of Olympus to power it up. When Kratos did and defeated the statue, Kratos shouted to the gods, distracted as its massive hand slammed down on his once more mortal body. Before Kratos could retrieve the blade to restore himself, Zeus appeared and betrayed him, stabbing him through with the sword and then wiping out the Spartan army."

"Whoa!" Jason said. I guess Zeus doing something like that was especially for his demigod son to hear. But I didn't understand. This couldn't have been only about Kratos' new war campaign. Why did Zeus pick Rhodes to betray Kraos?

But I had another thing on my mind. "If Zeus stabbed Kratos through with the most powerful sword ever created, why is Kratos obviously still alive now?"

"Kratos was also impaled when he found Pandora's Box." Chiron told us. "Kratos' will to fight and thirst for vengeance was so strong, he actually managed to cheat death and bring himself back from the Underworld simply by fighting his way out...three seperate times."

I didn't have to turn around to feel everyone's stares pointing to me. "My...my dad did that?" I couldn't believe it. How could anyone, even a demigod, have a will to live actually strong enough to cause self resurrection?

"Three times. Though the second time, he had help. Gaia contacted him, telling him she would help him take revenge on Zeus. Sending him a special Pegasus, one bred with one of Helios' fire horses, Gaia guided Kratos to the Island of Creation, where she told him to seek out the Three Fates. Kratos also fought through others, heroes and monsters alike, who were also after an audience with the Fates. Their power to travel back in time would allow Kratos to change the past, saving his Spartan warriors and finishing Zeus for good."

"Time travel?" Leo asked. "The Fates can do that?!"

"Leo! Don't interrupt." Chiron said. "Anyway, defeating the three Fates, Kratos used their loom chamber to go back in time, fighting Zeus on the very mountain where the sky god was hidden from his father as a baby. Kratos was outmatched since Zeus still possessed the Blade of Olympus, so he faked a surrender, then used Zeus' distraction to gain the upper hand, stabbing the god repeatedly with his own Blades of Athena as well as the Blade of Olympus, but before Kratos could finish Zeus off..."

"You mean 'before the final blow was struck'?" Leo said, in his best impression of Aku from Samurai Jack. The others started laughing, but Chiron scowled at Leo. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"As I was saying, Before Kratos could finish off Zeus, Athena intervened, stopping Kratos' attack with her own blades, allowing Zeus to escape. When Kratos asked why Athena stopped him, the wisdom goddess told Kratos...that no son should destroy his own father. Leo, don't even think about making a Darth Vader joke!"

All eyes turned to Leo, who'd suddenly started rubbing the back of his head and looking around.

"So what happened next?" I asked, wanting to get the final pieces of the puzzle, as far as I could get from Chiron anyway.

"Kratos took one more trip, but through space instead of time, to free the Titans from Tartarus, leading them in an all-out assault on Olympus. Kratos first led the charge, first fighting Poseidon, trapping him with Ares in Tartarus."

"What did Kratos have against my dad?" Percy asked.

"Nothing Percy, but I assume Kratos was willing to send all in his way to Tartarus to get his revenge. But when Zeus and Gaia reached the top of Mount Olympus, Zeus blasted them off. Kratos called out to Gaia for help, but the primordial goddess betrayed him, revealing Kratos to have been a pawn for her own revenge. Kratos fell to the Underworld a third time, landing in the River Styx, which weakened him and melted his Blades of Athena. Then, the wisdom goddess herself appeared before him as he pulled himself to shore, claiming to be on Kratos' side once more. She changed what remained of his second chain blades into the Blades of Exile, his own symbol of power."

"Why would my mom stop Kratos from killing Zeus one minute, then help him the next?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know. Kratos met the three Judges of the Underworld, who deemed him unready to end his life, saying his destiny was incomplete. They led him through a mystical gateway to Hephaestus' forge, knowing the smith god had useful information for Kratos. Athena had told Kratos to find the Flame of Olympus, and that extinguishing it was the key to defeating Zeus. When he asked Hephaestus about the flame, he discovered it was a magical barrier powered by Hestia. The flame was holding Pandora's Box, which Zeus had stored his master bolt. Kratos asked how the flame could be extinguished, but Hephaestus hesitated before telling him about Pandora. She was the key to opening the box in the first place."

"Wait a minute." Piper interrupted. "Why didn't Kratos need Pandora to open the box the first time?"

"Hephaestus had Pandora leave the box unlocked after hearing from Apollo that Ares would soon go on a warpath, and a demigod of great power would need the box to defeat him." Chiron explained.

"Is it just me, or do some of these Greek legends just seem like really lazy writing?" Raven pointed out.

"If it were fiction, no one would have read it." Chiron pointed out before continuing. "Anyway, Kratos found Pandora in the Labyrinth, fighting a number of gods and monsters on the way, taking their weapons as spoils of war. When Kratos brought Pandora back to Olympus, she used her power to open the box without even touching the flame. In fact, the flame dissipated when the box opened, broken by the master bolt, which freed Hestia as well. Kratos did find the bolt, but Zeus left an enchantment on it, causing it to zap Kratos when he touched it. Pandora pried the bolt from Kratos' hands, but she was killed by the blast instead of him."

 _She did that for him? Why?_ I didn't understand it. Why would Pandora, the one who supposedly unleashed all the evils of the world, help someone out for revenge?

"Enraged at Pandora's sacrifice, Kratos attacked Zeus once more. Kratos fought well, but then Zeus used his full powers to trap Zeus in his own psyche, causing him to become surrounded by his own guilt and all his regrets. Fighting through his past sins, Kratos had to release even greater powers deep within himself to break free of his nightmare. Fighting Zeus in a final round, Kratos defeated the sky god, took his master bolt, and banished him to Tartarus."

"So what happened after that battle that made my dad a mythological fugitive?" I asked, having a feeling the story was almost over.

"Kratos took back his immortality from the Blade of Olympus, calling upon his combined powers to reel in the chaos left in the gods' absence. Placing himself on the throne as the new ruler of Olympus, Kratos became the god of defiance. Some of the gods offered up new weapons to Kratos as coronation gifts, but a couple of them weren't so accepting of their new leader. Hestia, remaining loyal to the true Olympus, conspired with Hephaestus and Thanatos to free the others. The combined force of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and Ares would have been enough to destroy Kratos if he'd been caught off guard. But Athena had warned Kratos when she discovered Hestia's mutiny. He fled with his weapons and objects of power, not intending to face the other gods again."

"Wait a minute. If Kratos took down all of those gods, why did he run away when they came looking for him a second time?" I asked. It didn't make sense. I didn't care why Hestia picked Hephaestus and Thanatos to conspire with. I had a feeling I'd have a chance to find out from the gods themselves.

"Because Kratos had taken down each god one at a time, picking them off while each one was isolated. All together, Kratos didn't like his odds against them." Chiron answered.

"So why haven't we heard any stories about Kratos until just now?" Percy asked.

"Zeus wanted the stories of Kratos to be buried like his family, so he and the other gods erased all traces of his legacy they could find. Kratos was Olympus' greatest shame. How would you feel if you were a god, who was trapped in Tartarus by a demigod? But erasing Kratos' tracks wasn't enough. The gods could only assume Kratos would seek them out once more, so they changed their names and escaped to a new land."

"Wait a minute." Jason said. "Are you saying...Kratos..."

"...is the reason the gods went to Rome to begin with." Chiron answered him. "As for Kratos, I don't know why he didn't pursue them, but somehow, being left out of the Roman pantheon suited him just fine. I don't know where he went, but he neither followed the gods, nor stayed in Greece much longer. But judging from Zane's event in the arena, we can only assume Kratos has returned and now has an agenda."

The whole story started swirling around in my head at once. Of course Kratos would have waited to claim me until after I fought one of Ares' kids. I couldn't help but assume that Kratos had claimed me not because he was proud of me, but to mock Ares. What if my mom knew who my father was the whole time, but left him because she didn't want history to repeat itself? Was Kratos expecting me to be part of a second warpath of revenge? I couldn't straighten it out. I couldn't take it. I did the only thing I could think to do. I made a run for it straight out the door. I could hear someone shouting my name as I ran for it, but not much else.

* * *

I ran right through a creek, past the cabins, all the way to some beach at the camp. As I looked out over the water, it seemed like as good a place as any to try and calm down. I sat down in the sand, laying my arms on my knees as I stared at the water. I stayed like that for who knows how long. My sulking was interrupted by someone standing next to me.

"Hi." I heard a girl's voice say. When I looked up, I saw Sierra looking at me. She didn't look mad about the arena, or happy about my obvious stress. She just looked like she'd been through a mythological freakout just like I did. As she sat down to the left of me, I could tell what was happening. She didn't want to fight anymore. I guess she figured we'd both been through enough today. I didn't want to sit there silently either, so I asked something.

"You didn't exactly look happy about Ares claiming you." She sighed, but didn't start yelling at me or hitting me, so I guess she'd calmed down.

"My mom was in the Marine Corpse." she said, holding up a military dog tag from under her tank top. "She died in combat a few years ago. My stepdad wasn't exactly helpful during the grieving period. All he seemed to care about was making the rent on the apartment. He made me get a job when I was still in school. No matter how big a paycheck I seemed to bring home, it wasn't enough for him. I eventually couldn't take it and ran away. Basically, war was the entire reason I'd lost my mom. So imagine what kind of problem I'd have with being the daughter of the god of war."

"Try finding out you're the son of an apocalyptic god who was hidden from mythology so no one's ever heard of him." I replied. She looked confused for a second, then seemed to understand.

"I assume we're talking about your dad now?" she asked. I told her the whole story about Kratos I'd just heard earlier. Then I started telling her about how I was homeschooled on an endless road trip, and how the one time I'd managed to make f riends who went with us, my mom died and my entire world gets flipped upside down at once. She looked shocked, but confused. "So our fight in the arena was some kind of repeat of events with the next generation?"

"I don't know. Maybe my dad was just mocking your's when we got claimed."

"Makes sense. Or it might have been a warning. Your dad could have been telling Ares to back off. It was my dad's fault the whole thing with your dad happened right?"

"Are you saying it's Ares' fault I exist?" I joked.

"You know what I mean." she said, gently punching me in the shoulder. That's when I noticed the bracelet on her wrist.

"What's that?" I asked. I knew I hadn't seen her wearing it before. She held up her wrist to show it tome. It looked like a gold watch, but with a ruby in the shape of a hammer instead of a clock face.

"Think of it as a workplace ID. In exchange for working with his kids on various weapons, Hephaestus gave me powers over fire." she answered.

"So you work for Hephaestus now?" I asked.

"Yep, but my official title is Champion of Hephaestus. I guess he was sympathetic about me not wanting Ares to be my dad, so he offered me this job and powers. I'm staying in Hephaestus cabin now." I guessed her mom's death made her was angrier with Ares than I thought. I felt like I needed to say something about our moms in order to change the subject from dads.

"I'm sorry about your mom. I guess if anyone should understand what it's like to lose a mom, it's me."

"I'm sorry too. I'd only found out my mom died from a condolence letter. You had to see it happen with your own eyes. If you ask me, you had it worse than I did."

"I don't know if it matters how we found out our moms died. What should matter is that we both know what it's like. How we each feel as though our dads are to blame for our moms' deaths."

"I guess." She looked at me, and when I felt her fingers on the side of my face, I could tell she was examining my tattoo. "You know, that looks good on you." she said.

"You do realize I might as well be walking around with a big target on my face right?" I pointed out.

"You don't get it." she told me. "You'd have to be a seriously powerful demigod to be marked for life like that."

With all the apocalypse stories and forgotten myths I'd just heard, I never even considered what I'd be capable of. I'd already been told about having super strength. If a demigod's powers depended on who their godly parent was, what else could my dad's blood, or whatever gods bled, make me capable of?


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7, I get a turn to tell my story**

 **James' POV**

 **This chapter may be short, but now that I've gotten the rewrite of the God of War storyline in, I feel like it's time to introduce other characters.**

* * *

Have you ever been woken up by an argument about gods, titans, demigods, magic, and monsters, like they were real? That's kinda what had just happened to me. I'd woken up as soon as I'd heard a table being smashed, then decided to play possum until Zane calmed down, or considering what actually happened, left the room.

"Zane!" I could hear one of the girls shouting for him as he left. When I looked up, I saw Raven putting her hand on Annabeth's shoulder.

"Give him some time. He just got his answers about his dad, but it probably just now hit him all at once." she said. I could tell there was something Raven wasn't saying. As long as I can remember, I've been told I was good at reading people's emotions. I could never explain it, but I've always been able to sense others' feelings. I could feel resentment coming from her. It was spread in a few directions; at Zane for being the reason that Chimera came after their mom, at Kratos for leaving them with Zane in the first place, at Ares for starting all this, etc. I almost wondered why she was still with him, but then I felt another feeling, her promise to Lisa, their mom. Raven had promised to look after her brother.

"Would someone mind explaining this whole demigod thing to me then?" I asked, trying to clear up my confusion, making sure I wasn't still dreaming.

"James!" Raven smiled and ran over to hug me as soon as I woke up. I could feel her relief that I was ok.

"What just hap-" I was about to ask her when I realized something. "Luna!" I spun around and saw her sleeping in the bed right next to mine. She looked comfortable, but I could still feel confusion swimming around in her head.

"She'll be fine. She just needs to wake up first." Raven told me. Now, I couldn't sense her emotions that well. Luna had that effect on me. Whenever my mind was on her, I had a hard time reading anyone's emotions. I decided to go back to getting my own answers.

"So this whole thing about Zane being a demigod..." I started. "Does that mean..."

"You and Luna are too. I'm not, but they're trying to figure out what let me in here."

"What are you talking about?" I still didn't get it, so Raven told me the whole thing; that my dad was a Greek god, Luna's mom was a goddess, and Zane's dad...well, I had already heard about Zane's dad. It sounded like something from a video game.

I was having trouble processing it all, but some things in my life were starting to make sense. Mom had always said her plants had grown healthier than ever since I was born. And animals seemed to treat me differently, like the time I got lost in the woods while camping with my mom, and a wolf in the forest guided me back to her, then disappeared. Then, there were a few times when Mom had to take me into town for errands or something. I'd see something that scared the crap out of me. I was just a little kid back then, so I didn't think anything of it, but with my day's events, finding out I was a demigod, I knew it wasn't my imagination. I was really seeing monsters. But the weird part wasn't the monsters themselves. When I screamed for my mom at the sight of them, the monsters would either run away or just vanish completely, as if they were never there to begin with. Whenever that happened, Mom would come running to get me out of there. She was in such a rush to get us home, no matter what she was doing at the time, like she was trying to cover up the riots that would follow the scream.

Then, something hit me. How was Luna going to react to this? We were demigods, the monsters we'd all been seeing throughout our lives were all real, it was like the three of us had all been living a lie.

Raven saw me look at her and must have figured out I was worried about Luna. "Why don't you let one of the others give you the tour? I'll keep an eye on her." she said.

"Alright." I said as I got up. Percy followed me as I walked out the door.

* * *

Not many of the locations around the camp really stood out to me. The outdoor dining pavilion seemed weird since there was no roof. When I asked Percy what they did if it rained, he told me how the camp's barriers keep out rain unless they want it. The climbing wall seemed kind of cool to me, but I didn't like how there was lava coming off it.

I did like how the campers were sorted into cabins based on their godly parents, but some of the cabins seemed lonely, like Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Artemis, and the Pan cabin. For some reason, something about that one seemed familiar. I decided to take another look at it. It looked like the walls were actually trees lined up tightly enough to form walls. The branches actually managed to weave together enough to make a roof, including leaves. I could see a number of small animals, like squirrels and birds going in and out of that one. It seemed like the only cabin that didn't have a problem with animals all over the place.

Once I'd figured out who most of the cabins were for, I realized the main cabins in the U-shape in the center were for the major gods, or Olympians, whereas the cabins outside the U-shape were for the minor gods. I started to wonder how many gods the Greek mythology pantheon actually had. Inside the formation, I could see flowerbeds, fountains, statues of the gods, and a huge blazing brazier in the middle.

"Why are some of the cabins empty?" I asked, figuring I had enough time on my hands until Luna woke up.

"Well, Hera and Artemis don't have any kids with mortals. Hera's the goddess of marriage, so it's against her nature to run around having kids with mortal men. Artemis is sworn to be a maiden forever, so of course, no kids, although her hunters stay in her cabin when they visit the camp. Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, after World War 3, swore an oath on the River Styx not to sire anymore demigods. Of course, even though he was forced into the pact, Hades was the only one not to break it."

"But you're a Poseidon kid." I pointed out.

"Yeah, and it's a long story, but recently, the gods swore another oath that children of all the gods would be accepted, even Big Three kids, overruling the previous oath."

"What about that cabin?" I asked, pointing at Pan's cabin.

"Hm? Oh, that's Pan's cabin. Long story, but I don't think he ever liked humans much, so probably no kids."

"What's Pan's problem with humans?" I asked, having a feeling it would be some kind of reason involving pollution or something.

"You'll have to ask my friend Grover, the satyr." Percy said.

The only cabin I wanted to get away from was the Hephaestus cabin ,which was basically a steampunk garage as far as I could tell. I'd always sucked with technology. I even used to get carsick when I was little. When I mentioned this issue to Percy, he told me that demigods and modern technology don't mix well anyway, like how cell phones, when used by demigods, attracted monsters.

The rest of the tour was basically the armory, forge, arena, the strawberry fields, and a peek at the woods from outside. I wanted to know if we could go in there, then Percy said it's technically not off limits, but we shouldn't go in there alone or unarmed. Apparently, the camp stocks certain monsters in the woods, to add more challenge for playing Capture the Flag on Friday nights.

The last stop of the tour was the pegasi stables. He was about to tell me about it, but then his watch beeped. "Hey, can you find your way back through the camp on your own later? I gotta meet Annabeth at the arts and crafts." Percy asked.

"Sure. Who feeds the horses though?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah." he looked at his watch. "It's actually my turn, but I really can't be late again. Have you fed horses before?"

"Dude, I grew up on a farm. That's like asking you if you've ever seen the Statue of Liberty, right?" I asked.

"Good point. The horses' and pegasi's diets are on their stable doors." he said as he left. "When you hear the conch horn blow, head back to the dining pavilion."

"Got it." I answered, figuring he meant for dinner.

* * *

Up until I started feeding the horses and pegasi, I hadn't quite started missing the farm. I'd always felt most comfortable around plants and animals, which is why my mom had always said I was a natural at farming. My stepdad, John, said I had the greenest thumbs on Earth, which, when I was little, I took literally a few times and freaked out. He's the reason my mom had raised me on a farm. Up until then, she was just an animal rights activist, which is how she met my dad. They met at some kind of protest where a makeup company had been testing products on animals. Yeah, she was _that_ kind of animal rights activist.

She was even a vegetarian, a diet she almost force-fed me with, until John introduced me to bacon. My mom freaked out when she got home and smelled barbecue smoke. John argued that "carnivores have to eat too", which I started repeating whenever she caught me eating meat. Don't get my wrong, I didn't have any problems with my stepdad or growing up on a farm. He was actually the closest thing I'd ever had to a father. I just felt cooped up living on a farm, neither my mom nor stepdad wanting me to leave the farm without them.

The reason I ran away involved my dad, my birthdad. One day, I'd gotten a letter from him, telling me he didn't have much time left and if I wanted to meet him, I had to do it soon. When I brought the note to Mom, she told me it wasn't a good idea. I'd repeatedly asked her what her problem with him was, but never gotten an answer once.

As I was thinking about it, I started to have mixed feelings about staying here. On one hand, I was finally on the track to getting answers about my dad, not to mention since monsters can track me by scent, I could put my parents in danger by going back. On the other hand, I did leave hastily, not even bothering to say goodbye. They were probably worried sick about me.

I guess the horse I was feeding at the moment could somehow read my emotions, like I could read others', so he started nudging his nose against me, probably a horse's way of asking if I needed a hug. Not wanting to look weird if someone walked in, I started petting the horse.

"Whoa." I turned to see a satyr had entered the room. Aside from the obvious goat legs and horns, you'd think he was just some teenager with brown hair, eyes, and a wispy beard. "I've never seen Conker let anyone do that."

"Conker?" I asked, confused about the name.

"Whenever one of the other campers so much as touches him, he rears up and kicks them in the forehead."

"Leaving them conked out?"

"Yep. You must be one of the new campers. I'm Grover."

"Oh yeah. Percy mentioned you during the tour. I'm James."

"Nice to meet you. How'd you get that horse to let you pet him anyway?"

I figured it couldn't hurt to tell him about the weird things that had happened to me with animals, so I told him about all the incidences; the wolf that guided me back to mom when I got lost in the woods, a stray dog that helped me find Mom's phone in the fields, and a bird that helped me get my kite out of a tree.

As I talked to him, Grover seemed to be freaking out on the inside. I guess my ability to read people's emotions worked on satyrs too. "Why are you freaking out?"

"How did you know..." Grover suddenly went wide-eyed. I could sense it, he'd been shocked to the core, to the point of disbelief. "James, come with me. I need to test something."

I didn't understand what he wanted, but I figured he'd tell me soon enough.

* * *

Grover led me to the strawberry fields, and what he wanted me to see was strange to say the least. One semicircle of the strawberry plants was dead, withering, and roting away. The berries actually looked like pitch black, oversied raisins. It was like something had actually sucked the life out of those plants. "What happened here?"

"A week or two ago, Nico and Will had some really huge argument over here. I don't know what it was about, but it was enough to let loose Nico's underworld powers. He's a son of Hades, long story if he told you about the Big 3's pact. When he's really angry, he can't control it. It's why he still freaks people out over here. It killed the berries over here. Anyway, no matter what we try, no matter how many satyrs use their woodland magic on them, we still haven't been able to revive the plants."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Do you know how to play reed pipes?"

"Uh...No, but I took up the flute when I was a kid."

"Close enough. Try it on the plants."

"How will a song help?"

"Just trust me."

I couldn't help but think he was just crazy, but I figured if I did, he'd cut it out, so I took out my wooden flute from its case on my belt. It was surprisingly strong. No matter what I'd done with it since I was a kid, the flute seemed incapable of breaking. I had only really learned a couple of songs, both of which I heard while watching Power Rangers Wild Force. One was the Song of Animaria. My mom used to sing it to me before bed after she and I saw the episode with the Deer Zord.

As I started playing it, memories of Luna were coming back. Her long red hair was usually tied back in a ponytail, one possible reason I liked her so much. She reminded me of my mom. I actually met her the day I ran away from home. It was the middle of the night, and I was setting up a makeshift campsite by a waterfall. I had just gathered up firewood when I heard a splash. I stepped across the rocks and found her in the water. She was unconscious, and shivering. It was the middle of winter, so swimming wasn't really a good idea in the middle of the woods. I took her back to my campsite and laid her by the fire. When she woke up, she talked about how she was looking for her mom, and how she was a runaway just like me. We decided to start traveling together, and we only grew closer from there.

When I finished the song, I'd opened my eyes and looked a the field. I guess the flashback really did distract me, because when I looked again, the strawberry plants were completely healed, not one single speck of black anywhere in the field.

"I don't believe it, but..." Grover's emotions were running wild. I could feel shock, joy, even disbelief.

"What is it?" I asked.

"James, I just figured out who your godly parent is. There's no other explanation for this. You're a son of Pan, the god of the wild."

I gotta admit. I was shocked. Percy had said that Pan never liked humans, so my existance was an anomaly. Then again, it finally made sense. All those years, my animal magnetism, green thumb, and emotion reading wasn't just natural talents. They were my demigod powers. "So I'm the first ever son of the nature god?" I asked.

Grover's emotions suddenly changed to massive remorse and sorrow. "James. I don't know how to tell you this, but..." Suddenly, the sound of a conch horn echoed through the camp. I could tell it was for dinner. "I-I'll tell you later ok?" Grover said before he ran off. I didn't know what he was about to tell me, but it obviously wasn't good.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8, I get the shock of a lifetime**

 **Luna's POV**

* * *

I had a really weird dream before I woke up. It was morning in the middle of a forest, and a group of girls, most of them in their early teen years, were talking to one who looked ten years old. I couldn't see her face because I was seeing the dream from behind her, looking at the other girls, and her jacket's hood was up. They were all wearing silver jackets and camo pants with black boots. One of the girls, who had shoulder length black hair and electric blue eyes, was wearing a silver circlet on her forehead, like some kind of tiara.

"I need you all to head to Camp Half Blood immediately. There is someone very specific I wish to recruit for the Hunt." the youngest girl said.

"Lady Artemis, shouldn't you come with us to ask her in person?" the black haired girl asked.

"Thalia, trust me, now is not the time for her to see me. Besides, there are matters I must attend to on Olympus. A great change is approaching, one that will affect the entire world."

"What kind of..."

"Thalia. Trust me on this. You will know exactly what is going on soon enough."

Thalia sighed, then looked behind her at the other girls. "How will we know who this new recruit is?"

"Don't worry." Artemis said as a deer-pulled sleigh appeared behind her. "You will know when you meet her. She should have just arrived by the time you get there. She will be impossible to miss."

* * *

I woke up to the sound of a conch horn sounding. I sat up and looked around, trying to find where it had come from. "What the heck was that?" I asked aloud.

"Luna!" Raven shouted next to me. I saw that she'd been sitting by my bed. She got up and hugged me tight, like she thought I was dead.

"Raven, where are we? Where's James? And Zane? What happened to him?" I asked several questions at once.

"I'll answer your questions on the way. That was the dinner horn just now." Raven told me. She pulled my hand to get me to my feet and led me to the dining pavilion. She told me how me, James, and Zane were demigods, like from Greek mythology, and how Zane's godly parent was a forgotten destroyer god. The whole explanation was spinning around in my head. When I asked who James' godly parent was, she said no one knew yet.

"Any ideas who my godly parent is?" I asked.

"No idea. But since you knew your dad was mortal, it narrows it down to a goddes." Raven answered.

"How much does that narrow it down?"

"About half the Greek mythology pantheon. Although apparently, there's at least three goddesses you can't be a daughter of."

"Like who?"

"First, there's Hera. Since she's the goddess of marriage, running around with mortal men isn't really her style. Then, there's Hestia. She never really wanted attention, nor did she want to be a mom. She even gave up her throne on Olympus to Dionysus when he went from demigod to an Olympian god. Then, there's Artemis."

"I know Artemis' story inside out." I interrupted Raven. My dad told me alot of Greek mythology stories, but Artemis was always our favorite. At least, I knew it was my favorite, but I could tell my dad loved telling that story more than any other. "On her birthday, she asked to be an eternal maiden and became the goddess of the hunt."

"Right." Raven said after a short pause. "Anyway, it means since no man ever got Artemis' attention, she has no kids at the camp."

"One man _did_ win her affections." I corrected. "It was the giant, Orion. He had such great hunting skills, Artemis allowed him to be the first man to join the hunt. But Apollo got overprotective of his sister, or jealous, I'm not sure, and caused Orion to enter a state of madness, making him want to kill every animal in the world. That's when Gaea sent a giant scorpion to kill him. Artemis was so saddened by Orion's death, she turned his body into a new constellation."

"Are you saying Artemis actually fell in love once?"

"I think so. That's the version my dad told me."

"What about that thing you said. About Apollo being jealous?"

"Oh that. It was a version where Apollo was in love with Artemis. I guess the gods decided slim pickings overruled the idea of incest."

"Greek mythology is so messed up sometimes." Raven pointed out.

"Well, to me, the fact that it all really happened makes it even more screwed up." I replied.

* * *

My head was spining so much, I felt like I should be in a tornado movie, but then we got to the dining pavilion. It seemed like a normal summer camp this time. I looked around at the different tables. Annabeth was sitting at one table, Leo at another with that Calypso girl, but Percy, Jason, and Nico were all at their own tables by themselves.

"You know how the campers here are divided into cabins depending on who their godly parents are? Except for undetermined campers. They all stay in the Hermes cabin."

"That's the first I've heard about that."

"Oh...Well, the campers here have to sit at their cabins' table over here. Annabeth over there has to sit with her siblings, same with Leo and Piper, but since Percy, Jason, and Nico don't have any siblings, not at camp anyway, they usually end up eating alone."

"That sucks." I said. "Isn't Percy Annabeth's boyfriend? Why can't he sit with her?"

"I guess the rules are..." Raven stopped talking. I saw Zane going to what I figured was Hermes' table. These twin boys at the table opened a piece of paper, reading it to him. They looked like they were delivering bad news to him, and he looked a bit bummed out. Then, that girl from earlier, Sierra, tapped him on the shoulder and led him to Leo's table. "What the?!" Raven asked, obviously shocked.

I stopped listening to her when I saw who was at the Hermes table. James, sitting next to the twins, spotted me, smiled big, and waved me over. I ran over there, somewhat careful not to spill anything, but then set my tray down at my space. It felt like I'd been away from him all day, so as soon as my hands were free, I threw my arms around him, kissing him like in a movie where we hadn't seen each other in years. As he hugged me back, I started to go limp in his arms, forgetting about everyone else for that brief moment.

I started flashing back to how I met him. It was after I ran away from home. See, my dad owns a camping store, probably still does, and I used to work there with him all the time. About a week before I met James, I got a letter from my mom. Yeah, my immortal goddess mom. She wanted to meet me in person on a camping trip. I practically begged my dad to let me go, but he refused. He said my mom wanted more from me than just a visit. She wanted me to live with her instead of him. I figured my parents had gotten divorced after I was born, but I wasn't ready to ask.

After a week of begging Dad to change his mind, I got tired of his refusal. I'd never met my mom once in my entire life, and I felt like I deserved to meet her at least once. So I did the only thing I could think to do, run away from home.

No less than a week of wilderness survival, I encounted this huge scorpion. Not the kind of big you might see in a treasure hunt movie. I mean the actual size of a bear. No kidding. This scorpion was HUGE. Back then, I thought I was just seeing things from some kind of "civilization withdrawal" or something. Anyway, I was used to hunting for food, even dealing with wolves or bears, having to fight them over my food. But this scorpion freaked me out six ways from Sunday. I ran for it. It chased me through the woods until I couldn't run anymore, and got cornered on the edge of a waterfall. I figured crashing on the rocks would be a better way to die than whatever venom was in that huge stinger, so I jumped, then blacked out.

I thought I was a goner, but when I came too, I found myself in James' campsite. He'd saved my life, and I'd only just met him. I couldn't help but warm up to him. Yeah, I know, "Trusting a guy you met in the middle of the woods?" Before you ask that, he'd left my clothes on when he set me close to his campfire to get warm and dry again. He obviously wasn't going to try anything. As we talked, he mentioned how, like me, he'd only known one of his parents growing up. His other wouldn't let him meet his missing parent, in his case, his dad, and he ran away from home to find him. We decided to go looking for both of our mystery parents together, and, well, it escalated from there. Think about it. A boy and a girl, alone in the wilderness, no one else to keep the two of them out of trouble. It happened eventually.

"Hey!" Raven's voice snapped me back to reality. "You two going to keep this PDA up or eat?"

Everyone laughed at us as we sat down, but I didn't care. I was too happy to see James was alright. Then, I looked over and saw Zane looking at us for a second, smiling right before going back to his food.

"Hey, what's Zane doing at that other table?" I asked.

The twins looked over and saw him. "That girl he's with, Sierra, is technically an Ares kid, but since she works for Hephaestus now, I guess she sits at his table. As for Zane, well, Travis and I got this after his fight in the arena." The other twin, whom I assumed was Travis, pulled out the piece of paper and showed it to us.

"Connor here got it right after Zane was claimed as a son of...Kratos right?" Travis looked at Connor, who nodded, then finished for his twin brother. "Apparently, this Kratos guy stole Dad's favorite winged boots, and Zane's not allowed in the Hermes cabin as a result."

"And let me guess, Zane got a girlfriend already, so she asked if he wanted to move into her cabin?" I assumed. Zane had always had a bit of a 'weakness' for pretty girls.

"Doubt it." Raven said. "She and him were arguing back on the bus, remember?" When she mentioned it, I did recognize Sierra as the girl who was with that crazy satyr who brought us to the camp. "And she was his opponent in the arena after a second argument."

"Well, they don't look like they're arguing now." I said, already making assumptions of what those two could be talking about, based on how they were laughing over there. "Anyway, did you find out who your godly parent is?" I asked James.

"Yeah. One of the satyrs told me earlier, when I was waiting for you to wake up. He said I was a son of Pan." James answered.

Connor and Travis, along with everyone at our table, looked around each other nervously. "What makes you say that?" Connor eventually asked.

"Well, I told him about a few of my past animal encounters, and he told me to play my flute at the strawberry fields, around a really dead patch of it. Somehow, my song brought those plants back to life."

"Is that the spot where Nico and Will had that huge fight and Nico's powers...?" Connor asked Travis.

"Yep. That's the one. The plants were wilted by Nico's underworld rage." Travis answered.

"Yep. You're definitely a Pan kid. Not even all the satyrs' nature magic combined could heal those plants." Connor said, looking at James.

"I'm suprised Pan hasn't claimed you yet." Raven said. That's when everyone else at our table looked around at each other, looking nervous again.

"What's wrong you guys?" I asked, wanting to know what was up. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Connor snickered and almost said something before Travis clapped a hand over his twin brother's mouth. "James, I don't know how to tell you this, but..." Before Travis could tell us, another conch horn blew, this time, by a centaur standing in front of the brazier where the other campers had each scraped part of their dinner into the flames.

"We'll tell you later. Chiron's making some kind of announcement." Travis whispered, sounding relieved.

"Campers!" the centaur called. "You're all probably wondering who claimed our new camper, Zane Johnson, at the arena fight earlier today." As Chiron mentioned him, Zane himself got up and headed to stand beside him. "Zane is a son of Kratos, a forgotten god of defiance who was wiped from the history books after his one-man war against Olympus." Chiron went on to tell Kratos' story, from his fight against the barbarian king where he made the deal with Ares, all the way to the Greek gods making a run for it all the way to Rome and changing their names to avoid him. The story blew my mind. But then, Chiron continued.

"A number of our campers have revealed that they have had dreams about Kratos' fight with the barbarian king, and his deal with Ares. I have a feeling there are others within the camp who have had similar dreams." Zane took off his jacket and shirt, revealing his new tattoos on his face, chest, and left arm. They each consisted of a red stripe on his face, down his chest, then a spiral on his upper arm. Muscles aside, his physique triggered a few giggles and restrained fangirl reactions from Piper's table. (With those muscles, it wasn't hard to believe he'd had more than one girlfriend over the years.) "If any of you have had dreams of a Spartan warrior with these tattoos, stand up now." Zane's red tattoo started glowing like a neon sign, causing countless mumblings and murmurs among the crowd.

Aside from James and me, about eleven other campers, from various tables (including Hermes), stood up in response. I hadn't thought about the dream from the night before, especially since that monster attack that morning, and my dream about those archers had me confused too. But this was bizarre. So many campers had the same dream? I figured dreams could sometimes tell the future, but the past? This was crazy.

"Obviously this is no coincidence. Dreams are never just dreams for demigods. But a large group of them having the same one? Impossible, unless the demigods in particular are connected to some sort of approaching event." Chiron looked like he was about to say something else, but then he looked to the side, as if he heard something. As Zane put his shirt back on, I followed Chiron's gaze, and then started freaking out.

It was the exact same archers from my dream. Thalia stood in the lead of a group of girls in silver jackets and camo pants, carrying silver bows and arrows on their backs. I couldn't believe it. I barely heard James asked if I was ok. I guess I looked pretty shocked and freaked out, but I headed straight over there while Chiron talked to Thalia, who seemed to be having a similar reaction to Zane. I guessed she'd had the same dream as well. Zane went back to the Hephaestus table about the time I'd gotten over there.

"It's Thalia right?" I asked, panic slipping into my voice.

"Yeah, who wants to..." Thalia's eyes widened the instant she saw me. "No way. Who's your godly parent?!" she asked, looking like she'd seen a ghost herself.

"I don't know. My mom hasn't claimed me yet." I answered.

"She looks just like her." one of the archers whispered.

"I know, it's freaky, but there's no way she's one." said another.

"Who?" I asked. "Who do I look like?!" I asked, immediately able to guess they had an idea who my mom was.

"It doesn't matter, because there's NO WAY IN HELL..." Thalia started shouting, then looked over my head and jawdropped. "...she's...your mom." she finished, obviously stunned, almost speechless. The other hunters started mumbling among themselves as well. Even the other campers were starting to talk, freaking out by the sound of it.

"Who?! WHAT ARE ALL YOU LOOKING AT?!" I shouted.

"That." Thalia pointed above my head. I looked up and tried to make sense of what I was seeing. A silvery holographic image appeared over my head, slowly spinning as if to show everyone. It looked like a crescent moon, but with a bowstring attached at the corners, and an arrow nocked, as if the moon had turned into a bow and arrow. "It can't be...anything but...Artemis' claim."

"Claim?" Then, it hit me. "My mom is..."

"Artemis." Thalia finished for me. "Goddess of the hunt, the moon,...and maidens."

It shouldn't have been possible. Artemis would never have had children. She asked to be a maiden forever. My dad told me this story a hundred times. It was obviously his favorite story in Greek mythology, but that's when realization hit me. Artemis was my dad's _favorite_ Greek myth. Every time he told me her story, he sounded as if he'd known her in real life. Was this why I liked going with him during hunting season so much? Was this why I never had nightmares during a full moon when I was little?

"IT'S A TRICK!" one of the hunters shouted, drawing her knives. Wait! Her knives?! "OUR LADY CLEARLY WANTS THIS IMPOSTER DEAD!" The crazed archer tried to attack me with her knife, but Thalia was doing her best to hold her back.

"REBECCA! COOL IT! ARTEMIS WOULDN'T HAVE CLAIMED AN IMPOSTER!" Thalia shouted, trying to hold her back. I was freaking out. I was supposed to die just because I existed? What was Rebecca's problem? James ran up and tried to help Thalia, but they might as well have been trying to hold back a huge lion.

Speaking of which, that's what broke up the fight; a lion. Not just any lion, a big, green, metal lion covered in mystic runes and lines of glowing blue magic energy that raced across the lines like circuitboards in movies. Its eyes had the same glow, as if more power was either going into or coming out of them.

Anyway, just before Rebecca could break Thalia's grip, the huge lion came running into the pavilion, claws scratching up the floor. All the campers scrambled from their tables, drawing weapons. The lion stood still, not making a move, as if waiting for prey to show up.

"What's it doing?" I whispered to Thalia, who, like the other archers, each had silver bows drawn, with glowing silver arrows nocked.

"I don't know, but it looks like it's waiting for someone to make the first move." she whispered back.

"You mean it's...strategizing?"

"I think so, but monsters don't usually do that, much less animals."

"Maybe it's an automaton."

"Maybe. But I've never seen an automaton with magic runes before."

As the lion started looking around, turning in place, Percy waited until its back was turned before charging in to slash the creature's backside. Unfortunately, his sword just clanged harmlessly off the metal skin; harmlessly, not soundlessly. The lion spun around and swiped at Percy with a claw, which left a short-lived trail of light. Percy dodged it and avoided getting shredded, but his shirt still got wolverine-style clawmarks.

"Celestial Bronze doesn't work!" he shouted, trying to block slashes with his sword. He wouldn't be able to keep it up forever.

"Let's try Stygian Iron!" Nico shouted, slashing at the creature's side with a black sword. Different metal, same result. The lion's attention was turned to Nico, giving Percy a chance to attack again, but it still didn't work. It drew the lion's attention back, forcing it to keep an eye on both of them.

"How about Imperial Gold?!" Jason shouted, flying in with a golden sword, which also did nothing against the creature's metal skin.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Thalia shouted before shooting an arrow at the lion, which just bounced off the metal hide too. "None of our weapons work! Not even Lunar Silver!"

(Yes, I made up a fourth magical metal for the Hunters of Artemis. Moving on.)

"Well, here's an idea!" Jason yelled as he thrust his hand, palm forward, at the lion, shooting lightning at the creature. It was a longshot, but something finally worked. The lion growled and snarled as its body stiffened and spasmed out from electrocution.

"It worked. USE ELEMENTAL POWERS!" Thalia shouted. She dropped her bow and quiver and shot lightning at the creature with Jason, both of them pouring at least ten thousand volts of electricity into it.

"How long can we keep it up though?"

"Keep it busy!" Leo shouted as he ran off. "I gotta get Festus.

"Who's Festus?" I asked.

"Our robot dragon!" Thalia answered.

 _Sure. Why not? Although a dragon might be the only way to beat this thing._

Thalia and Jason kept up the lightning blast as long as they could, but it didn't take long for them to tire out. Their electric blasts stopped completely as they collapsed, Jason having to land first since he'd been flying. The lion seemed to still be in shock, but he'd shake it off soon enough, and I seriously doubted Thalia and Jason had the energy to do that again.

Then, the lion stopped twitching and spotted Thalia, slowly approaching her, knowing she was tired out and couldn't move. I stepped a little bit left and my foot bumped into Thalia's bow. I quickly grabbed the bow and pulled out an arrow, aiming for what I hoped was a weak spot, its glowing eye, which seemed to be getting brighter as it approached Thalia. It was like more energy was going in, like it was about to fire a laser, and I didn't want to let it get enough energy to find out if it would.

Within a second of grabbing the bow, I took aim and fired. The arrow landed a direct hit to the lion's eye, causing it to roar in pain as magic sparks showered from the now darkened eye. I grabbed Thalia and helped her get away from the lion while James did the same with Jason. We dragged the two over to the other Hunters as Rebecca stared at me.

"No one could have made a shot like that. Not even Apollo's children, or us." she said in amazement. "I was wrong. You _are_ a daughter of Artemis."

Unfortunately, that diversion didn't last long, and the lion's eye was brightening up again, as if the arrow only disrupted its energy flow.

"If elemental attacks work..." James started to say as he got up to face the lion. "Come on dad. Let your powers come through for me." I heard him mutter. He held out both his hands, as if summoning power, and vines started shooting out of the ground, wrapping themselves around the lion's legs, ensnaring it in plant-ropes. It pulled with all its might, but the vines were very strong, although I didn't know how long they'd hold.

That's when the lion's eyes started glowing again, then shot lasers right at me. The beams hit me in each shoulder, knocking me down, and making my shoulders hurt like Hell. I couldn't get up. Whatever was in those lasers was spreading throughout my body, making it all go numb. James stood in front of me to protect me, but had to keep his powers focused so the lion didn't get loose.

"Come on!" James groaned, like it was getting harder for him to keep the vines' grip. But he was new to using his powers. They didn't hold long enough. The lion broke free of the vines as James fell to his knees in exhaustion, trying his hardest to stay inbetween it and me, but it was charging another eye blast as Raven ran over to stand in front of it.

"No. No! NO!" she shouted. "AFTER ALL I'VE BEEN THROUGH TODAY, YOU'RE NOT TAKING MY BEST FRIEND AWAY!" Then, out of nowhere, Raven thrust her hand forward, and a golden beam of light shot out, flashing through its eyes to blind it. Just when I thought I couldn't get confused enough that day, my best friend pulled the biggest surprise ever. That was when I realized how she'd goten into the camp, despite being a mortal. She had powers of her own.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9, A Giant Robot? Seriously?**

 **Sorry if this chapter seems short. Didn't have much planned for it.**

 **Raven's POV**

* * *

Believe it or not, finding out I had powers was not the most bizarre thing that happened to me that night. It was still during the last minute of sunset when I shot a golden freaking laser beam out of my hand. Most people would be freaked out by having powers. I was actually a bit relieved. Having magic powers suddenly made my entrance into the camp make ten times more sense. I still had no idea _how_ I got those powers, but that was a question for another day.

Anyway, I took a second to stare at my glowing fingers, but I figured the lion was still attacking, and was obviously really mad about being shot with a laser, so it charged at me. I got ready to shoot another blast, but instead, some kind of dark energy force field appeared instead. Just when I stopped being confused, BAM! My powers suddenly make no sense.

"Raven?" Luna asked, shocked as I should have been. "How did you do that?!"

"I have absolutely no idea." I told her, trying to hold the force field up. "Zane?! A little help here? I could really use your super strength right now!" I shouted. I could feel the lion's claws pounding on the force field. It was getting harder and harder to hold that thing back. I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker as I held up the barrier. All of a sudden, I felt the pounding stop, and Zane groaning. I dropped the force field to see my half-brother lifting the huge green metal lion above his head, then throwing it right into one of the pillars of the dining pavilion, knocking it down on top of the metal beast. He suddenly dropped to his knees in exhaustion, seeming weaker than he did that morning.

"What happened? You took down an even bigger monster earlier!" I shouted as Sierra pulled him over.

"Something tells me he's alot stronger when he's mad. Like the Incredible Hulk of demigods." Sierra guessed.

Unfortunately, Zane looked like he was in no shape to pull off another throw, and I didn't know if I could hold the lion back anymore, so when the green metal lion dug itself out of the rubble and charged at us again, I thought we were as good as dead...until a giant robot dropped down and stomped on it.

No, seriously, a huge, bronze & gold robot dropped from the sky and pinned the lion down under its feet, kicking up a huge dust cloud. Even after finding out my brother and friends were demigods, a giant robot was the last thing I'd been expecting that day.

Something told me that Leo was the one who built the robot dragon. Not sure if it was the giant robot itself, the Iron Man song that started playing when the dust cleared, or Leo's voice booming from the dragon head's mouth, but it seemed pretty obvious.

Anyway, as soon as the dust cleared, Black Sabbath's song, "Iron Man" started playing from a speaker somewhere on the robot. I'd seen Leo's dragon, Festus, earlier that day, but that time, it really looked like a regular dragon, four legs, tail, claws, all in a steampunk machine body.

This time, Festus' body had shifted around, his tail somehow converting into the dragon's arms and legs to give the robot a humanoid shape. That's right. For some reason, Leo had converted his robot dragon, Festus, into his own Dragonzord. Then again, is a guy like that going to _need_ a reason to make a giant robot? Given what Annabeth told me about him, I wasn't surprised for long.

"Festus?!" Thalia shouted, surprised. "Where's Leo? I thought he went to go get you!"

"In here!" shouted a loudspeaker from the dragon's mouth. But it was Leo's voice. Didn't take long to figure out Leo was inside the dragonbot.

"You're inside that thing?!" Piper shouted.

"I KNOW RIGHT!?" Leo shouted like a total fanboy on the inside. He was obviously loving every second of this. "This is the upgrade I wanted to show you guys!"

"THAT IS SO COOL!" Zane shouted.

"Why did you upgrade Festus to let you pilot him?" Jason asked.

"So he could do this." Leo said as soon as the lion crawled out from under Festus' foot. The dragon's entire body suddenly glowed with rippling heat, firing up from the inside. Festus hand suddenly burst into flames, then slammed down on the lion, punching a pained roar out of it. I suddenly got it. Annabeth told me that Leo had fire powers, making him immune to fire and heat, as well as letting him summon and control fire. Since the dragon was powered by heat, Leo had become a living power booster for the dragon.

Festus started pummeling the lion over and over again, only taking a few hits to turn the lion into glowing molten lumps of metal, leaving only its head intact, but with all the lights gone. After checking to make sure the lion was dead, Festus visibly cooled down and opened up his chest, allowing a smoking Leo Valdez to drop out, exhausted from being a human furnace.

"Everyone search the camp." Chiron called to us. "Grover! Check Thalia's tree! We need to know how that creature got inside. Hunters! Get anyone who's exhausted to the cabins! Everyone else, sweep the camp's interior! Check for more of those things!"

One of the girls from Leo's cabin took a look at the lion's remains. "It's not an automaton. I don't see any moving parts, just a full mass of...now molten metal."

"Do you...recognize...the metal?" Leo asked tiredly.

"Nope. It's color-tempered green, but it looks like stainless steel on the inside. Should Imperial Gold, Celestial Bronze, or Stygian Iron be able to cut through that?"

"No clue. But this lion was obviously created by magic." Another girl put in. "It had a clear vulnerability to elemental attacks."

In spite of Chiron's orders for just the Hunters to take care of the fighters, I could see Sierra putting Zane's arm over her shoulders to take him to the Hephaestus cabin. Something told me those two had pulled a 180 from their fights earlier. Hearing that the Hephaestus cabin actually had private rooms only made it obvious what he could be doing with her in there.

* * *

The Hunters got the rest of us to the Hermes cabin to rest up. I was up sooner, having spent less energy on my powers. I'd only just noticed how dark it had gotten. Some of the Hunters were heading in behind me, probably to talk to Luna.

When I got out of the cabin, I saw Grover approaching Chiron. Sierra came up too. Since I was curious about what had let the lion get in, I got closer to listen in. I didn't see the point in sneaking up on them. "What is it?" I asked.

"I found this lodged in Thalia's Tree." Grover said, holding up what looked like a throwing knife. It looked like stainless steel, but had a layer of dimly glowing steam flowing from the tip of the blade to the handle. "It had some kind of steam blowing from it until I pulled it out, and when I did, the barrier instantly went back up."

"So you're saying that knife was pulling energy from the tree to weaken the barrier?" Sierra asked.

"Makes sense. How else would that lion have gotten inside?" Chiron concluded.

"What's that throwing knife made of?" I asked. I'd seen the known magical metals around the camp; Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, Stygian Iron, even that new one, Lunar Silver. This throwing knife didn't look like any of those, but it obviously had magical properties.

"I don't know. I've never seen this metal before." Chiron said. "Take it to Cabin 9 for an analysis of the metal."

"I'll do it." Sierra said as she grabbed the knife. "Grover had something he wanted to talk to James about."

"He's in the Hermes cabin with Luna." I said. Grover headed up there, and I was about to follow when Chiron said something.

"Raven, how did you do that before?" he asked. I could already tell what he wanted to talk about.

"I have no idea. One minute, I shoot a laser out of my hand, but when I tried again, I get some kind of dark force field." I answered as well as I could.

"This is very strange. Even among demigods that do have elemental powers, control over two opposite elements has never happened before." Chiron.

"But I'm not a demigod."

"You're no ordinary mortal either. That much has become certain. Some powers can be given by the gods. Perhaps your powers are a literal 'gift from the gods'."

I was about to ask which god it could have been when I noticed Luna coming out with the other Hunters. She looked a bit nervous, like she didn't want to be away from James.

"What's going on?" I asked Thalia who was in the back.

"We need to talk to Luna about something." she said. "Given what happened before the random lion attack, it's safe to assume that Artemis wants her to join the hunt."

"The hunt? What's that?" I asked, seeing Luna being taken to Artemis cabin by the Hunters, but she was looking back at James, whom some satyrs were escorting to the woods.

"Artemis didn't have any kids at camp...until now." Thalia explained, looking at Luna for a second. "That's why she recruits girls she thinks have talent, asking them to join the Hunt. Basically, girls have to swear off men forever, but get immortality in exchange."

"Wait. You mean she'll have to break up with James?" I asked.

"If she joins the hunt." Thalia said, following them. I watched as the group led Luna into the now glowing silver cabin. I guessed since Apollo and Artemis were the sun god and moon goddess, their cabins glowed in a day/night pattern. I remembered something about Artemis from mom's Greek mythology stories. Artemis had a strong dislike of men, having turned one into a jackelope just for trying to see her in the bath.

I didn't know how a virgin goddess could have had a daughter, but I didn't see any way Artemis wanted Luna running around. I seriously doubted that the Hunters were going to let her refuse to join the Hunt. There was no other way of looking at it. The Hunters were going to make Luna join the hunt and leave us behind. I couldn't lose my best friend. But that's when I really zeroed in on the part where the Hunters swore off men for immortality. I realized I could join too, so I made a run for the Artemis cabin.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10, The Third Great Prophecy is Revealed**

 **Hey guys. If any of you guys have been following this story, I have a roleplaying forum with the same name as my trilogy "Demigods of War". It's going to go differently from my regular crossover, but I'm not going to say how much differently, and please don't give it away in reviews if you've been on that forum.**

 **Frank's POV**

* * *

"Are we there yet?!" I asked Hazel, getting tired of the extremely bumpy ride. I'd ridden her supersonic horse, Arion, before, but not while I was in the form of a mouse riding shotgun in my girlfriend's jacket pocket. One downside of being able to change into animals is that your girlfriend and your co-praetor can outvote you for saving room on horseback. Arion didn't feel like carrying three passengers for a cross-country trip from San Fransisco to New York, so I, the shapeshifter, had to change into a mouse, bouncing around in Hazel's jacket pocket.

"Almost...there." she answered. Arion stopped so abruptly, I was thrown from Hazel's pocket into a tree, upside down, leaning against the tree, cartoon style, I was literally wacked back into human form.

"Frank!" Hazel shouted as she ran over to me. "Oh my gods! Are you ok?!" Even upside down, I noticed Reyna, my co-praetor of Camp Jupiter, slowly getting off the horse.

"I'm fine." I groaned, flipping back down to my feet, then standing up, trying to make my head stop spinning from the extra-long, bouncy road trip. My hand went straight to my lower back, trying to hold down its throbbing so I could walk. "But on the return trip, we're taking an airplane." I told her.

"Can we just deliver this book and prophecy to the camp? It really sounds world-threatening, like Saturn or Gaia level threatening." Reyna pointed out.

"Good point." I said. Rachel had finally put together the first of the Sibylline books, which, for some reason, had information about someone named Kratos, but that's all we could get out of Ella. At the mere mention of the word weapons, Ella went into a frenzy, scrambling to write down an entire book non-stop all night. As soon as Rachel put it together, Ella screamed, then shouted out what sounded like a third Great Prophecy. Four rhyming couplets gave it the familiar structure of the ominous Great Prophecy, and from what the prophecy itself said, it definitely had something to do with this 'Book of Kratos', so Rachel told Reyna, Hazel and I to make a beeline to Camp Half Blood immediately, telling us she had a feeling it had to be the three of us, given our recent history with some of the Greek campers over there.

Unfortunately, the entire book was in ancient Greek, not Latin, so no one at Camp Jupiter could read it. Whoever this Kratos guy was, he was purely a Greek legend that never made it into the Roman pantheon. It sounded a bit like some of the Roman gods who were never Greek to begin with, but it was really the opposite.

"I almost don't want to know what all this 'Kratos' business is about." Hazel commented as the three of us headed up the hill.

"Same here. The weapons in that book looked like Symbols of Power." Reyna added, taking the tome bound in a red leather cover out of her side bag. I told Rachel that the original Sybilline books were actually scrolls, but she pointed out that books were a massive upgrade to scrolls, and no one really had an argument in favor of real scrolls.

"But if all the information about them came out at once, we probably need to get this translated now." I pointed out.

Hazel's eyes suddenly widened. "I'd say this is a pretty good 'hurry up' sign too." she said, pointing at the ground. As soon as I looked, I got a feeling this new Great Prophecy was already underway. There were blood stains on the ground, two spots, really wide. Only demigods could have left blood stains this close to the camp.

"Whoa! That can't be good." Frank said.

"It only means that we need to get up there faster." Reyna said.

I nodded and kept going. That's when I noticed Annabeth and Percy standing at the top of the hill. Hazel suddenly smiled and ran to hug her. Reyna looked a bit more hesitant, but ran up anyway. I caught up with them after a second and high-fived Percy. We hadn't seen these guys since last summer.

"Hey!" Annabeth said, switching hugs from Hazel to Reyna. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah. What brings the Praetors of New Rome all the way out here? Who's watching Camp Jupiter?" Percy asked.

"Well, we left Dakota in charge while we're gone." I answered Percy.

"Doesn't he have a drinking problem?" Percy looked confused. It was Kool-Aid, but it was a good point.

"Well, we left Dakota in charge of the camp, but we left Gwen in charge of Dakota." Hazel answered. Gwen and Dakota had started dating before we left. I have to admit, I didn't see that coming.

"Rachel, Tyson, and Ella finished the first Sibylline book, and Rachel told us it had to be the three of us who brought it over here, plus a new Great Prophecy." Reyna added.

"What? A new Great Prophecy? Didn't we just deal with one of those last year?" Annabeth asked, talking about our war with Gaia and the giants.

"And another one for four years before that?" Percy added, bringing up Kronos and the second Titan War.

"Apparently, yeah." Reyna answered. "But this one's in ancient Greek, so no one over there can read it. As for the Sibylline Book, Rachel said Ella called it the Book of Kratos."

"Kratos?" Annabeth asked. She looked at Percy like an idea was forming in her head. He looked at her with the same expression.

"Wait. What's going on you two? And what's with those blood stains out there? What happened?" Hazel asked.

"Oh that?" Percy asked. "Those were two chimeras yesterday." he answered, like it was no big deal.

"Wait. What?" I was confused. "Isn't there only one chimera, and since when do monsters leave blood stains? Especially stains that big?"

"I don't know. Nico took the bodies, yes the monsters left corpses, to the Apollo cabin for an autopsy, but they haven't finished yet." Annabeth told us.

"Bodies?" I asked, more confused than ever. "What happened over here last..." I didn't get to finish as something big and bulky jumped on my back from behind and threw its muscle-bound arms around my neck. I didn't have to see who was nearly choking me to death to know that grip, that weight, that chokehold.

"BROTHA FROM ANOTHA MOTHA!" Clarisse shouted from her spot on my back. I hate when she does that!

Sometimes I forget that most of the demigods at Camp Jupiter have half-siblings over here at Camp Half-Blood. There's no difference between the Roman and Greek gods other than names and personalities, so basically, two demigods from the same godly parent, even if he/she was in a different aspect for each kid, are technically siblings. Hazel's a daughter of Pluto, so Nico's her brother since he's a son of Hades, Pluto's Greek version. Thalia and Jason are siblings since their dad is Jupiter, even though he was in his Zeus form when Thalia was born. They got lucky. Jason and Hazel have awesome Greek siblings. Me? I got one that greets me with wrestling moves. I can't believe how different Mars and Ares kids are.

"Clarisse! Get...off!" I tried to shout, but groaned from her weight. Yeah, that's all muscle, which is even heavier than what bigger girls normally have.

"No way! Not until you pay up on that giant-eagle-ride you owe me!" she said. Take my advice. Never bet on an arm wrestling match against a daughter of Ares.

"Can't...that...wait? I have...to talk...to the others!" I groaned, trying my hardest to pry her arms away from my neck.

"Oh fine!" she relented and released her Suffocator headlock. ( Yes, she actually named it the Suffocator.) "But the second you finish, you pay up or I will do that again!" she warned, pointing at me before walking back to the cabins.

I looked around at Hazel, Reyna, and Annabeth, who I could tell were holding in laughter, except for Percy. He'd burst out laughing at my surprise ambush.

"Can we just go get Jason, Piper, Leo, and Nico already?" I asked, irritated from the surprise piggyback ride.

"Right. Sorry." Annabeth said, still trying not to laugh.

* * *

After gathering up the seven of us from the fight against Gaia, as well as Nico and Reyna, the nine of us all met in the Big House with Chiron. It was good to see that Leo survived his fight with Gaia, but we couldn't believe he'd brought back Calypso from Ogygia.

Percy and the others had told us the story about what happened at the camp the day before Reyna, Hazel, and I got there. I couldn't wrap my head around it. A forgotten god of defiance? How was that possible? There was absolutely no god like that in the Roman pantheon. It didn't make sense until they told us how Kratos himself stayed behind when the other gods left for Rome, hiding in the shadows of mythology. It couldn't have been a coincidence that, at the same time Kratos' son was arriving at Camp Half Blood, Ella suddenly pulled an all nighter to finish the first of the Sybilline Books, the Book of Kratos. And from what the new Great Prophecy said, his friends, Luna, James, and his sister, Raven, were no doubt involved as well.

"With a story like that, this new prophecy is starting to make sense." Reyna said.

"What's it say anyway?" Percy asked. Reyna looked at me and nodded, implying it was time to read it. I nervously took the paper out of my pocket and unfolded it. I took a deep breath before reading it.

 _"When the dark-light hunter is eclipsed 20 years of age,  
_ _the defiant god's son walks his father's path of rage.  
_ _When heroes meet half bloods, the first of their kind,  
_ _the weapons of Kratos will take an army to find.  
_ _When the metal man completes the stone of power,  
_ _ancient foes must unite in the world's darkest hour.  
_ _The Marked Son faces his ultimate test,  
_ _when the god slayer's wrath must be put to rest."_

Everyone's faces suddenly took on expressions of shock and worry.

"Whoa!" Piper said nervously, holding Jason's hand out of shock. The new prophecy must have freaked her out quite a bit.

"The world's darkest hour?" Jason asked.

"Does that mean we're up against something even worse than Kronos or Gaia?" Percy followed up.

"It must be this 'metal man' in the fifth line." Annabeth pointed out. "But what's the stone of power?"

"It must be some kind of mythological doomsday weapon if it's connected to th is 'world's darkest hour'." Percy added.

"Well, the 'Marked Son', that's gotta be Zane. You know of any other demigods at the camp with face tattoos that magically appeared on their faces?" Nico pointed out.

"What about that other line, 'When heroes meet half-bloods, the first of their kind'?" Leo asked. "Do you think that's Luna and James? Children of Pan aren't exactly common here, much less Artemis."

"But it said it would take an army to find those weapons. Why are there only two first-of-their-kind? Three if you count Zane?"

"Maybe there's more of them. The seven of us didn't meet up all at once." I guessed.

"Maybe, but it obviously refers to demigods whose godly parents have never had kids at the camp before. Who would that be?"

"Maybe a Hera kid. Though I don't think that could happen either. Maybe Hercules, Thanatos..." Hazel started making guesses.

"Well, we won't know until we find them." Percy told us. "What about that dark-light hunter? Who's that supposed to be? Raven probably has powers that could be it, but she's not a hunter."

Jason suddenly went wide-eyed, like something just snapped in his brain, or clicked into place.

"Jason?" Piper noticed his reaction.

"Last night, after the lion attack..." Jason seemed hesitant to get it out. "Raven asked to join the Hunt. Thalia told me the whole story after she took Luna back to the Artemis cabin. Luna didn't want to join the hunt, but Raven cane running in, begging to join. Thalia's wolf tested her, and Thalia said she couldn't join since she wasn't a virgin."

"I thought only maidens could join the Hunt." Annabeth pointed out. "And isn't Raven a bit too old to be able to swear off men?"

"Well, Raven brought up how she'd gotten tired of men after all that's been happening. Since Artemis isn't with them, and she's the one in charge of recruiting, Thalia gave her a trial basis. If Raven can act as Luna's bodyguard until they find Artemis, she'll recommend to Artemis to let her join the hunt."

A look of realization hit Reyna's face. "That makes Raven the dark-light hunter."

"Of course!" Annabeth exclaimed, the same realization showing in her eyes. "Raven is Zane's half sister! Her death would cause a son of Kratos to follow his dad's path of rage!"

"What about the eclipse? Why use that as a metaphor for her death?" Leo asked, confused.

"I think it might be a double meaning." Jason deduced. "Thalia told me that Raven also told them her twentieth birthday was going to be on the upcoming solar eclipse."

"That's only a week from now!" Annabeth said, fear showing in her eyes.

"Is that how long we have to finish the quest?" Hazel asked worriedly.

"No." I knew. "That's only how long we have until the you-know-what hits the fan."

* * *

 **Regarding the Clarisse and Frank moment, it's been bothering me that the Heroes of Olympus books never mentioned Clarrise and Frank being siblings.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11, I get pissed at two people, and annoy one more**

 **Sierra's POV**

* * *

"That should be enough." Leo said after pounding his smith-hammer on the bronze panel one more time. It was a huge square, supposed to go on his personally designed warship, which the Hephaestus cabin rebuilt and upgraded while he was away, now renamed the Argo 3. "You mind cleaning up while I put this last one on the ship?"

"Sure, go ahead." I said, gathering up his tools to put them away. I'd been keeping the forge burning by spraying flames into the coals. Leo himself could have done that, but he wanted to finish the panel himself.

As he left, I took the bucket of water off the floor and poured it into the forge's coals, putting out the fire as a column of steam rose from it. I was just about to leave, but the second I turned around, a man's voice called to me and said "Hey! You know he's dangerous right?"

I turned around, seeing someone appeared in the steam; a guy with scarred cheeks and an oiled crew cut, wearing a leather duster and muscle shirt with a bulletproof vest and a padlock necklace. The other Ares kids I was s upposed to be sharing a cabin with told me what this guy looked like, and he matched the description right down to the wraparound sunglasses with glowing firelight behind them. They told me those glasses hid miniature nuclear explosions where his eye sockets should be.

"Ares." I said angrily, crossing my arms as the image started to dimly glow.

"Can't you call me dad?"

"Not really. I refuse to be the daughter of a war god. You know how my mom got killed?" I asked my jerk father.

"She died in combat. You know most of my kids have military moms."

"Aren't you supposed to be the god of war? Can't you gods control your own domains? Or did you just not give a crap enough to save my mom?"

"You know us gods can't interfere with the mortal world." Ares told me. I couldn't see it as anything other than him trying to justify my mom's death.

"There's alot of shit you gods aren't 'allowed' to do isn't there." I asked rhetorically. "Was Kratos 'allowed' to take over Mount Olympus?"

"You weren't there when I fought Kratos. Trust me..."

"That's not exactly possible right now." I interrupted.

"Zane's father is dangerous. How do you think Kratos beat me and sent me to Tartarus when he was just a demigod. Think about it. Kratos became a god and a titan since then. His power must have doubled, if not tripled, since he became the god of defiance."

"Sounds more to me like you're a sore loser about that fight."

"I'm serious Sierra." Ares insisted. The coals started to glow like they were trying to catch fire again, as if Ares was trying to light them back up. Whether it was because the coals were in Hephaestus' territory or because Kratos' return had freaked him out, Ares couldn't get the fire started back up. "Kratos power has only multiplied since he was a demigod. If Zane has even half of Kratos' current power, he could be just as dangerous to everyone around him, maybe even more dangerous."

"Zane's my friend, and I'll hang out with him all I want." I told him firmly. "And since when do you care? You never showed that much interest in me before all this happened."

"No one would have taken you seriously as a warrior if I'd claimed you the second you got to the camp. Think about it. Literally none of my kids over there were born to win any beauty pagents. You heard the rumors about you, the ones that said you were a daughter of Eros."

"Oh please!" Literally everything he said was pissing me off at this point. "You could have shown up at the camp yourself and told everyone."

"You know it's not that simple! The gods are forbidden from having direct contact with our kids!"

"You know what?" I asked before turning on the fan used to vent excess smoke out of the forge. "I don't want to hear it." Ares' image started flickering as the steam got vacuumed out of the forge.

"Hey! SIERRA!" Ares' lectures were silence when the steam was vacuumed out. I turned around and left the forge, forgetting to make sure I'd finished cleaning up because I didn't want to be in there when he called back.

* * *

I was headed back to the Hephaestus cabin to check on Zane. Since Hermes kicked him out of his cabin, I asked the boss, Hephaestus, if Zane could crash over there. He said yes, and Zane was allowed to stay in one of the private rooms. (Hephaestus' cabin's bunks act as elevators into private bedrooms. Zane got the one next to mine, but I'd heard some kind of noises coming from his room the night before. I wanted to make sure he had gotten rested up after that lion attack.

What I saw instead really pissed me off. I saw Raven coming out of the Artemis cabin with Luna. Raven was wearing the full Hunters' uniform. I couldn't believe it. After everything her brother had been going through, Raven, the only family he had left, just ditched him?! I didn't bother thinking about what her reason could have been. I just stomped over there and grabbed her shoulder to make her face me. "Hey!" I shouted to get her attention.

"What?!" she asked, agitatedly. "I'm busy!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" I asked, not caring what she was busy with. "You joined the Hunt?!"

"You know what?! No! They haven't let me in yet. Since I'm not actually a virgin, Thalia said it's unlikely Artemis would let me join. Lucky for me since Artemis just claimed a daughter at the camp, and I was revealed to have powers the same night, she's letting me act as Luna's bodyguard until they meet back up with Artemis on the upcoming eclipse, my twentieth birthday."

"Zane just lost his mom, got the shock of his life, and you're ditching him the first chance you get?!"

"HEY!" Raven shouted at me. "Zane's basically the reason my mom's dead! Plus, my dad left both me and my mom alone as soon as he found out about Zane, not to mention how Kratos isn't exactly blameless in my mom's death!"

"IMAGINE WHAT ZANE'S GOING THROUGH!" I yelled at her. "HE JUST FOUND OUT HIS DAD'S A FORGOTTEN DESTROYER GOD, HE PROBABLY HAS A MASSIVE PRICE ON HIS HEAD BY NOW, AND YOU'RE LITERALLY THE ONLY FAMILY HE'S GOT LEFT!"

"I don't have time for this!" Raven growled before leaving, taking Luna by the arm to blow me off.

"See ya Sierra!" Luna shouted back to me while trying to look back. If she was trying to make me feel better, it wasn't doing much.

I stared at Raven angrily, unable to understand how she could be so selfish, when I spotted Zane standing where Raven had been, having watched my argument with Raven. He didn't look surprised, upset, or even annoyed, just curious.

"Everything ok?" he asked as he came over.

"Well...not really." I told him about what had just happened with Raven. If he was having any sort of reaction, he wasn't showing it at all.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that might happen." he said.

"Wait what? She just ditched you!" I couldn't get it through my head. Why was Zane ok with her leaving him behind?

"Her last boyfriend..." Zane hesitated to say it. "Let's just say...she didn't actually lose her virginity by choice." I let that sink in for a second. It didn't take me much thought to figure out what he meant.

"Oh gods." I said to myself, reflexively covering my mouth with my hand for a second. I couldn't imagine what she must have gone through with that. I immediately felt bad about chewing her out so hard. What Zane was going through wasn't much different than a superhero backstory. What Raven went through...I didn't even want to think about it. "What happened with him after that?" I asked.

"Doesn't matter." Zane quickly said. Clearly, he didn't want to talk about what happened with Raven's ex. I wasn't sure if that meant Zane actually felt some of Raven's pain, trying to imagine something like that, or if Zane himself was involved in the aftermath.

I tried to focus on what Raven did when I'd talked to her. "Still, that doesn't excuse her for ditching you when you might need her."

"To be honest, I'd rather her ditch me and survive than stay with me and get caught in the proverbial crossfire. With all this stuff about my dad going on, anyone too close to me could be in danger. I want my sister as far away from it as possible." Zane was handling it a thousand times better than I did. He'd have rather handled everything alone than drag anyone else into his problems. Obviously Zane was nothing like the monster Ares made him and his dad out to be. Stay away from him? Yeah right!

"Well, you're stuck with me for all of whatever shit's about to hit the fan." I told him, managing a smile. I'd almost forgot to ask him something though. "So did you get enough sleep last night? I thought I heard some kind of noise from your room last night."

Zane suddenly got nervous, as if I'd asked a particularly awkward question. "I uh...yeah..." he stopped to yawn. "Slept great."

"You sure? You seem a bit tired."

"Oh, it's just from the lion attack last night. Took alot out of..."

"Hey Zane!" shouted a girl's voice from behind him. He suddenly went wide-eyed and looked even more nervous. I looked and saw one of Piper's sister, Drew Tanaka. She came up behind Zane and gave him a kiss on the cheek before saying "Let me know if you want to do that again." and walking away. It didn't take a genius to figure out Zane's room was making noise because he had 'company' that night.

"You pervert." I started teasing him.

"Hey! I've been under a lot of stress lately and she offered to help me relax!" Zane said immediately.

"Suuuuuure you were." I said semi-sarcastically. "Admit it. You just couldn't resist an Aphrodite daughter."

"Hey! I made it very clear from the beginning it was a one-time thing!"

"Uh-huh." I kept teasing him. I would have kept going, but I heard the conch horn from the auditorium, a signal that Chiron had some kind of announcement for everyone. "Come on Stripes, we'd better see what this noise is about." I said before heading to the auditorium, him following. As much fun as it was to tease him about that, I made a mental note to ask Drew how it went.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12, We make a plan, and I make a very risky decision**

 **This chapter is short, but I wanted to get the plot going.**

 **Annabeth's POV**

* * *

"That's everyone." Chiron said as the campers gathered at the auditorium. Leo, Will Solace, Percy and I were standing with him on the stage, All the campers were seated like we were watching a movie marathon. (I wish.) Zane sat down with Sierra and the Hephaestus cabin. Luna and Raven were sitting with Thalia and the Hunters. James sat down next to Luna, much to her apparent delight. He looked a bit depressed about something, even with his girlfriend holding onto him. Something told me he'd found out about his father, Pan.

"Campers!" Chiron announced to get everyone's attention. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called this assembly." His statement was met with chattering of agreement. "Calm down everyone!" The crowd quieted down and started listening to Chiron. No one had really 'calmed down'. People have trouble keeping their minds off being attacked by two chimera mutants and a metal lion in the same day.

"Recently, Zane over there was claimed as a son of Kratos, his two friends, James and Luna, were discovered as Artemis' daughter and Pan's son. We've also learned that his sister Raven, though a mortal, has powers of her own. After some tests this morning, I've determined that her powers alternate between control over light and darkness with the rising and setting of the sun." The campers all looked at the four of them, having already known they had to have been connected to something big. Chiron looked at Will and nodded, letting that son of Apollo take the stage.

"Yesterday, the camp had two attacks. One was with two strange chimera-like creatures. My cabin completed the autopsy and confirmed that these two creatures were no ordinary monsters. We discovered lion DNA in the system mixed with Chimera essence." Uneasy murmurs interupted the speech. Will gave the crowd a minute to let that sink in. "We think that these chimeras were actually a monster form of half bloods; offspring of Tartarus monsters with mortal animals. Fow now, we're calling them 'demimonsters'." The crowd started freaking out, trying to shout out their questions all at once. Will looked at Leo and nodded, a signal to move onto the next topic.

"As for last night's attack from the metal lion..." Leo shouted out, shooting a gust of fire into the air before the crowd's jumbled questions could drown out the assembly. "My cabin and I have confirmed a complete lack of moving parts inside what remained of the lion's body. It was a solid statue animated with magic. We have no leads as to who sent the lion, but we found a throwing knife in Thalia's tree after the attack." He took the throwing knife out of his tool belt to show everyone. "We haven't identified the metal in it, but we've confirmed that it can drain energy from whatever its stabbed into. It's safe to assume that whoever put this knife in Thalia's Tree was behind the lion attack."

Uneasy murmurs spread throughout the audience. They were starting to get the idea of why we called for this assembly, but there was one more thing to bring up. It was Percy's turn to step forward.

"This morning, Annabeth and I received a delivery from Camp Jupiter. It was the first of the Sibylline books, containing a list of the weapons collected and wielded by Kratos himself throughout his quest for vengeance. It also has his story throughout the book, as well as a list of creatures and enemies he went up against, one of which matches the chimeras from yesterday. Given the timing of Zane's arrival, the monster attack, and children of Artemis and Pan, we're positive these events are all connected to a third great prophecy, which was also delivered to us today."

Percy looked at me, and I nervously stepped forward with the piece of paper with the new prophecy. One look at Zane and Raven made me hesitate for a second. How would Zane react if he knew Raven was supposed to die in a week? There was no way he'd agree to let her come with us if he knew the whole prophecy. No doubt he'd do anything to make sure that part of the prophecy wouldn't come true. I'd learned years ago what happened to those who tried to change fate. They usually just made things worse just by trying. What I was about to do seemed like a bad idea, but the idea of Zane trying to fight the prophecy seemed worse. So I took a deep breath and started reading it out loud.

 _"When heroes meet half bloods, the first of their kind,_

 _the weapons of Kratos will take an army to find._

 _When the metal man completes the stone of power,_

 _ancient foes must unite in the world's darkest hour._

 _The Marked Son faces his ultimate test,_

 _when the god slayer's wrath must be put to rest."_

The whole crowd's eyes turned to Zane. Obviously, no one else could have been the Marked Son. Not to mention how the prophecy was about Kratos, whose son had been claimed only yesterday.

Percy, Leo, Jason and Piper all looked at me with a look that said 'Do you know what you're doing?' But after a moment of uneasy silence, Chiron decided to continue the assembly. "The metal lion last night was proven to be completely impervious to all of our known magical metals; Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, Stygian Iron, and even Lunar Silver. Clearly, the line about the weapons of Kratos needing an army to find refers to a large number of demigods participating in a quest. It's likely Kratos' weapons are able to deal damage to the lions, assuming there are more of them. Anyone who had the dream about Kratos' battle will be asked to come on the quest, along with the three Roman demigods here now."

Leo stepped forward again. "My cabin started rebuilding the Argo II while I was gone; a new one called the Argo 3. They had a feeling the camp might need a bigger warship, so this one has about 15 rooms this time, although its dorms this time, not private cabins, so everyone gets a roommate. Until we know who the rest of these 'first of their kind' are, let's stick to the campers here who admitted to having dreams about Kratos. I have a feeling that's who we need to stick to right now. The ship's almost ready to go. We just need to stock up weapons, supplies, ammo, and get Festus back into place. He's going to convert back into its figurehead again, but this time, he can eject and unfold his entire body from a rolling suitcase. This way, we'll have an attack robot that can launch from the ship in a huge fight." Leo tried to hide it, but he was grinning like a madman at the attack robot comment. "We'll leave as soon as our crew is ready."

"Anyone who had the dream about Kratos yesterday, head to your cabins to prepare for the quest. Everyone else, return to your training schedules." Chiron headed off back to the Big House, Leo went off to load up the Argo 3, our large team for the prophecy went back to their cabins to pack, all the other campers went back to their daily routines, but Percy pulled me aside, and I could guess what it was about.

"You didn't read the whole prophecy." he directly said, quietly enough so no one else could hear us.

"I know. Percy, Zane would freak out if he found out Raven's going to die on this quest." I told him.

"Doesn't he deserve to know? His dad beat the Three Fates once, right? Maybe Zane can change the events of the prophecy somehow."

"Percy, you know what happens when people try to change prophecies. They just make things worse in the long run."

Percy sighed, probably trying to figure out what to say next. "If Raven really is supposed to die, Zane is going to go ballistic, maybe even more crazy if he finds out we didn't tell him the whole prophecy. He's basically the Incredible Hulk of demigods."

"I know." I agreed with him. "This is a bad idea, but I don't think we have any other choice." I sighed, looking back towards the auditorium. "I'd better take Zane to the armory to get him a weapon."

"Alright. I'm gonna go pack. I'll see you on the ship." Percy kissed me on the cheek before heading to his cabin. Iheaded back to find Zane. I had an idea for a weapon that could work for him, but none of the campers had ever used it...ever.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13, Welcome to the Avengers, Here's your giant sword**

 **Zane's POV**

* * *

"Well, that's alot to take in after just one day." said Sierra. All the others were already getting up to go back to their cabins or prepare for the quest, but Sierra and I were still in our seats.

"Yeah. I've been here for almost twenty four hours and I've already got my own quest." I told her.

"Well, if one of those weapons shoots fire, I call dibs." I couldn't help but laugh at her joke.

"You already shoot fire." I joked back.

"Oh yeah." she looked like she was thinking. "If one of those weapons shoots _lava_ , I call dibs." I laughed a bit more after that one.

"Zane..." I heard Annabeth and looked up. "Come with me."

"What is it?" I asked.

"You need to pick a weapon from the armory." I'd completely forgotten about the weapons at this camp. My inner video game fanboy automatically took control.

"Oh go ahead Stripes." Sierra told me, seeming to read my mind. "I gotta pack my stuff anyway. See ya back at the ship." She got up and left, heading back to her cabin as I followed Annabeth, excited to finally get my hands on a magic weapon.

I know what you're thinking. _Weren't you already about to get a whole arsenal of magic weapons?_ Think about it. The entire quest's purpose was to get the weapons. I needed to go on a quest for the weapons first, and I needed weapons to go on the quest.

* * *

"Well, here we are." Annabeth led me into a shack next to the Athena cabin. Looking around, the idea of an armory of magic weapons was a little underwhelming now. The weapons all basically looked like ancient greek weapons, but were all made of that Celestial Bronze stuff I saw earlier.

I was about to pick up two swords to try dual wielding, but then I saw it, the most beautiful weapon I'd seen yet. A five feet long, nine inch wide blade of Celestial Bronze on the wall. All my life, as a hardcore gamer, I'd always dreamt of wielding a giant sword, like all of my fictional heroes; Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy, Ragna the Bloodedge from Blazblue, Dante from Devil May Cry. It's like the giant sword was practically begging me to take it.

As soon as I grabbed it though, Annabeth tried to talk me out of it. "Uh...No one's used that sword since the Hephaestus cabin made it. It's too big and heavy for any of us to use in battle." I'd held one of those other weapons. They felt just a bit too flimsy for someone with super strength. I needed a weapon built for brute force.

"Let me see if I'm an exception." I said, taking the sword, already liking how strong it felt in my hands.

* * *

After going to the training arena, Annabeth pushed a button on the wall. Instead of training dummies, a statue of a Minotaur popped up from the floor.

"Here's the bet. If you manage to break this statue, that's your weapon." she said, crossing her arms as she stepped back a bit, leaving me room to swing.

"Easy." I responded. I shouldered the sword, gripping it with both hands to steady it. Despite my confidence, I was nervous. I felt like I needed this sword as my weapon. If I tried my super strength again, I needed to know for sure my weapon wouldn't break under the pressure. I didn't know how strong I was, or how strong the other weapons were.

I concentrated, trying to summon my powers without having to be angered. Judging from the energy I felt surge through my muscles, I had a feeling it was working. Within a few seconds, I could feel my heartbeat speeding up and pulsing through my arms and legs, as if to send enough oxygen to put my muscles into overdrive. I suddenly remembered this feeling. The same sensation had gone through my body when I attacked that chimera on my first day. It worked. I'd activated my powers.

Not knowing how long I could hold up the overdrive, I made a run for the statue. Time seemed to slow down as I attacked. I reminded myself that the statue was the only thing standing between me and my weapon of choice. As I got within striking distance, I yelled at the top of my lungs and swung the giant sword clean through the stone bull-man, shattering it with a small explosion of gravel and dust.

I let the sword's blade touch the ground, resting it on the floor as I caught my breath, waiting for my heart to slow back down to normal. I looked over at Annabeth, seeing her eyes widened and her mouth hanging open in a look of shock and absolute disbelief. "What was that you said about no one wanting this sword?" I asked as I lifted it back up again, the blade feeling heavier than before. Before I did anything else, I pushed a button on the handle, remembering what Annabeth told me about most of the camp's weapons being able to change into smaller objects, like how her boyfriend's sword could change into a pen. My new giant sword began to change, the blade glowing and disappearing into the hilt, which folded up and retracted into the handle, the whole weapon turning into an everyday flashlight.

"I guess there's a first time for everything." Annabeth replied as I slipped the flashlight into the holster on my belt. "You still look a bit drained though. Maybe you need a smaller weapon while you train your super strength."

"What if I break it by accident?" I asked. "What if my super strength goes too high in the middle of a..." I was interupted by the red glow coming out of nowhere on my hands. When the glow dimmed, two black gloves, each with a silver chain around the wrist. That didn't give it away as a magic weapon, but a dagger attached to each one by a small chain made of fire did. The daggers were kind of shaped like tuning forks, each dagger splitting into two one-foot blades, with the handles wrapped in a strange red leather. Whatever metal the blades were made of, they were glowing like superheated metal in a forge so I couldn't tell what metal it was.

"Uh...Where did these come from?" I asked, confused. I would have been more freaked out, but after the mutant chimeras, the story about my apocalyptic dad, and the random green metal lion, I was fresh out of panic attacks.

"Probably a gift from your dad." Annabeth suggested, pushing a button on the wall, making a scarecrow dummy pop up from the floor. "Try them out. I have an idea."

"Alright." I stood in front of the dummy again. The fire-chain gave me an idea. Pulling one of the blades back behind me, I then slashed across the front. The blade flew from my hand and slashed clean through the dummy, emitting fire as it swung. At the end of the slash, the chain pulled the dagger back into my hand. "Whoa!" The weapons suddenly rang a bell as they disappeared into my gloves in a burst of fire. "These are kind of like my dad's weapons, the Blades of Exile. He had to have sent me these."

"My mom sent me an invisibility baseball cap the same way." Annabeth commented. My ears perked up when she said invisibility. "And no. You can't borrow it to spy on the Aphrodite girls." It was like she was reading my thoughts. Awkward.

"I'd better go pack my stuff for the ship. Bye." I quickly said, fast-walking out of the arena.

* * *

Good news, my video games _did_ survive the bus crash. Bad news, they _didn't_ survive the explosion. I talked to Percy after the whole arena fiasco and he told me that whatever was in the bus had burned up with it. Not much of my stuff survived the crash except my cell phone, which Annabeth told me attract monsters too easily (even though I saw her using one later.), and my laptop.

Packing up my stuff didn't take long. Aside from my laptop and cell phone, all I had left to pack was some extra clothes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a bag of human cash, and a pouch of gold coins, all of which had been provided by the camp. I packed one more thing, but it wasn't for me. It was a necklace for Raven. Her birthday was coming up, and it was going to be on the solar eclipse, so I had the Aphrodite cabin make her a pendant, holding both a moonstone and a sunstone, shaped to resemble half of the moon in front of the sun. Small craters had been etched into the moonstone, while flame designs were engraved into the sunstone. I couldn't believe how fast they'd finished it, but since Piper told me that one power of an Aphrodite kid was control over jewelry, I shouldn't have been surprised.

I ran into Sierra on the way out of the Hephaestus cabin. "Hey Stripes, what weapon did you pick?" she asked.

"This." As we headed for the Argo 3, I pulled the flashlight from my belt's holster, making it transform into the giant sword I picked out.

"You do realize that wielding an oversized sword doesn't automatically make you a badass right?" she said, teasing me again.

"It sure doesn't hurt." I said as I changed the sword back to a flashlight and holstered it. "Besides, I also got these from my dad." I showed her the fire chain-daggers I got in the arena.

"Hey! I called dibs on any fire weapons!" she joked.

"Well, my dad gave me these. I'm pretty sure they're reserved." She gave me a punch in the arm as we kept going to the ship.

* * *

The Argo 3 was amazing. Unlike its predecessor, the Argo II, the the quarterdeck had been raised for better navigation to steer the ship. It also seemed to have three floors. To me, the Argo 3 seemed like a combination of pirate ship and ancient Greek tririme. Even Festus, the robot dragon, had been put back in place as the masthead. Later, I'd asked how he fit in that masthead, but Leo said the dragon's body could fold down into a normal suitcase. I was confused enough as it was, so I didn't ask how it could fold up.

"Whoa!" Sierra and I said in unison. Leo was waiting for us at the ship.

"Argo 3 now boarding flight one for the quest of Kratos' weapons. All aboard Air Leo." he said, putting his hand in front of his mouth to distort his voice like an intercom.

"Very funny Leo." Sierra said sarcastically. "Where is everyone?"

"Already aboard. We've been waiting for you. Now come on, we've got places to go and ancient weapons to dig up." he said as he climbed aboard the ship.

I was about to get on the ship, but hesitated for a second and looked back at the rest of the camp. All the other campers were going back to their usual routines as if nothing was going on, whereas the rest of us were going on a quest that the fate of the entire world rested on. It was overwhelming. I'd been here for less than two days and I was already getting a quest, one revolving around some kind of great prophecy.

"Zane, come on." Sierra put her hand on my shoulder, shaking me out of my distraction. "We've got to get going." I didn't feel ready for a quest like this, but I followed her into the ship, knowing I might never see the camp again.

The entire crew gathered in the ship's mess hall. There were about twenty one of us, five at each table. I found the table where Luna, James, and Raven were, and Sierra joined us. Leo came in after a few minutes and started talking to us from a desk at the other end of the room.

"AVENGERS! ASSEMBLE!" he shouted to get our attention.

"Leo, we're not the Avengers." Piper said from her table.

"Sure we are. I'm Iron Man, Jason's Thor, Frank's Hawkeye, Percy's Captain America, Zane's the Hulk..."

"Wait wait wait!" Jason suddenly interupted. "Why does Percy get to be Captain America?"

"Because I can't fly or shoot lightning." Percy pointed out.

"Well Captain America can't breathe underwater. Why don't we be the Justice League? I'm Superman, Percy's Aquaman..."

"Hey! I told you guys NOT to call me Aquaman!"

"GUYS!" Annabeth shouted. The Avengers discussion was getting out of hand and we needed to stay focused.

"Sorry." Percy, Jason, and Leo all said in unison.

"Oh, let me do it!" Annabeth got up and took the desk from Leo, picking up a book bound in a red leather cover. Leo himself went back over to his table with a few other demigods I didn't recognize. "Alright, we've all been recruited for a massive quest. The new great prophecy says that it will take an army to obtain the weapons of Kratos. That's why we've assembled this team. Each of you had a vision two nights ago about Kratos' deal with Ares. That means each of you has some kind of connection to whatever's happening. Now, for introductions. First step of a mission is to know who you're working with. We're going to go around the room, say your name, your godly parent, and the skills you're gonna bring to the table. I'll start." She paused for a second.

"I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena. I'm going to be our combat strategist for this quest." She looked at Percy and nodded.

"I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. I can control water, heal my body on contact with water, breathe underwater, and communicate with horses and sea life. I'll be the quest's diver should underwater missions be needed."

"I'm Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, the Roman version of Zeus. I can fly, control the wind, and shoot lightning. I'll be handling aerial combat."

"I'm Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite. I can use a power called Charmspeak to influence people , and I'll be the head of espionage for this."

"I'm Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, lietenant of Artemis." I remembered her from the lion attack. She'd changed out of her silver parka for a black leather jacket, the shoulders of which had a grid of metal studs on each shoulder. (as opposed to my leather jacket which didn't have any metal studs or spikes.) "I can control the wind somewhat, and I can control and shoot lightning. And before you ask, NO, I can't fly." The introductions shifted to the next table, where Leo was sitting.

"I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. I can build and control machines, as well as control and generate fire. I'll be doubling as engineer and our captain."

"Leo, you're not the captain for this." Annabeth interupted.

"Wait what?" Leo stood up with his hands on the table. "I built this ship! I'm the only one who knows how to drive it!"

"Then you'll be doubling as the pilot and engineer, but Zane is the son of Kratos the prophecy refers to as "the Marked Son", meaning this is his quest for his dad's weapons. He's the captain." Wait what? Yeah, as if I didn't have enough to worry about on this death trap quest, I was in charge of the death defying quest. I looked down at the table as I felt all eyes focus on me. After a pause, someone decided to keep going. As Leo sat down, a big, strong looking, and tall Asian guy went next.

"I'm Frank Zhang, son of Mars, the Roman version of Ares. I'm also a descendant of Periclymenus, the shapeshifting Argonaut. In addition to combat abilities and archery, I can change into animals. I also use arrows with various features."

"Told you he was Hawkeye." Leo said, making the others laught for a bit, until the dark-skinned girl next to Frank cleared her throat loudly to get our attention.

"I'm Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, the Roman version of Hades. I can control precious metals and gemstones, as well as sense and manipulate underground tunnels. I can also manipulate the Mist to some degree to create and maintain illusions." Sierra told me about the Mist before we boarded. It's an invisible force that masks the presence of monsters, gods, magical weapons, and anything supernatural in general, from the eyes of mortals.

"I'm Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, daughter of Bellona. I can share my strength with others, though it works better in groups." To me, Reyna looked kind of like Penelope Cruz.

"I'm Calypso." If you're picturing Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean, you are WAY off. This girl was crazy hot, with caramel hair braided down her shoulder, wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, both of which looked a bit tight in a very good way. "I can use magic, have medical experience, and I've discovered other, more combat-useful powers."

"See, Calypso, my girlfriend by the way, is a daughter of Atlas, the Titan of Endurance." Leo said. "She has an unbelievable amount of stamina. You know how some people claim they could run or fight all day? She really can. Also, after leaving her island, Ogygia, she may or may not have lost her immortality and become like a regular demigod...demi...titan...whatever." As Leo's table finished, Nico stood up from his table, which had six demigods.

"I'm Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. I can summon the dead from the Underworld and teleport through shadows."

"Even though doing that too much can melt you into a puddle of dark goo." said the Will from the same table.

"I get it! I haven't even done either of those since the Giants war!" Nico said irritably, before getting up and going over to Leo's table. Considering how loud he said it, I had a feeling that he and Will had some sort of personal argument.

"Uh...I'm Lou Ellen, daughter of Hecate." A pale-ish girl with dark hair and green eyes interupted. She'd been sitting at Will and Nico's table, wearing a purple T-shirt, a denim vest, and blue jeans, and probably wanted to end the awkward silence. "I'm a highly trained sorceress and have alot of practice controlling the Mist. I'm probably going to be in charge of illusions and magic on this quest."

"I'm Will Solace, son of Apollo. I'm an ok archer, but my specialty is medical practices. In other words, I'm the doctor in the house."

"I'm Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares. I can instantly learn how to use any weapon just by touching it. If anyone can figure out how to use those weapons of Kratos, it's me." It was the big, stringy haired girl from the arena. I remembered her reaction when Sierra was claimed.

"Assuming you'll be able to touch them. They might be cursed to protect them from Ares and his kids." said the hispanic guy next to her. His sharp features reminded me of Travis and Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin. "I'm Chris Rodriguez, son of Hermes. I can open locks telepathically, as well as run faster than the average demigod.

"I'm Grover Underwood,...um...a satyr. I'm highly trained in woodland magic and animal communication. I'll most likely be training James over there in the same skills." Grover stood out a bit. He was the only one of us with facial hair, and especially the only one in the room wearing a rasta cap. He gestured at James as soon as he finished, diverting everyone's attention to our table. James himself, feeling like he was being singled out, spoke next.

"Um, I'm James Hawk, son of Pan. I guess I can control and restore plant life, and maybe control animals." He didn't talk much about anything else. I'd known him long enough to know something was on his mind.

"I'm Luna Crescent, daughter of Artemis. I'm an archery pro apparently, and I have no idea what kind of powers I got from my mom."

"I'm Sierra Napalm, daughter of...Ares, champion of Hephaestus." Sierra sounded annoyed to say that Ares was her dad. "I'm a black belt in Karate and Kung Fu, and my boss gave me fire powers like Leo."

"I'm Raven Johnson...uh...mortal. I control light during the day, and darkness at night, but I have no idea why. For the time being, I'm going to be Luna's bodyguard until I can join the Hunt."

That left me to go last on introductions. "Um...I'm Zane Johnson, son of Kratos. I guess I have super strength, but it works better when I'm angry. We're searching for my dad's weapons, so I guess I'm the key to the quest." I waited for someone else to start talking, but everyone's eyes were still on me, expecting me to know more about the weapons. "So uh...Annabeth, where do we start our quest?"

Thank the gods Annabeth had an answer. "Well, after going through the pages covering the weapons, we discovered five 'Keys of Ascension'. They're enchanted versions of five different weapons Kratos encountered while escaping and hunting down the Furies; a sword, a javelin, a club, a shield, and a sling. Whoever wrote this book, it looks like they predicted the weapons' exact locations at the the time they'd be collected."

"So the first stage of our quest is to find the Keys of Ascension? It sounds like the artifacts were passed down throughout the descendants of Kratos' Spartans, and smuggled into America as they followed the gods into Western Civilization."

"But if the coordinates in that book are accurate, how did the writer know where the weapons would be by the time this prophecy came to pass?" Will asked.

"Do you think Phineas the seer might have been involved?" Frank asked, looking at Percy.

"Maybe. He was a son of Neptune, so he was Roman, but he never seemed like the type of person who would help with something like this." Percy speculated.

"What about the Spartans? At least one of Kratos' followers could have been a son of Apollo. Kratos might have even met the Oracle of Delphi once." Will guessed.

"I'll ask my dad how he figured out the keys' locations if we ever meet him. Right now, we need to focus on finding the keys." I interupted before the discussion went too far off course.

"Right. The Javelin's the closest one, within an seven hour flight. According to these coordinates, it's in a museum in Genesee County. The engine's still got a few kinks to work out, so the Argo 3 won't be going supersonic anytime soon." Leo said.

"Well, we might as well kick back and get ready for takeoff. Everyone, the plates and goblets at your tables will magically make any food you want. The camp uses the same ones." Annabeth said. "Leo, you start the engines and prepare for takeoff. "

"Alright, but don't start the in-flight movie until Festus takes over for auto pilot." Leo said. "You know the Stars Wars movies are my favorites."

"I thought you said you didn't even like Star Trek." Jason pointed out.

"Dude. If you can't tell the difference between Star _Trek_ , and Star _Wars_ , you are hopeless."

"As great as that sounds, I think I'm going to head back to my cabin and have my lunch there. Come get me when it's time for dinner or when we arrive at the first weapon's location." I said, getting up to leave as I grabbed my plate and goblet.

"I'll show you where the captain's quarters are." Sierra responded and got up to go with me. "There's something I want to show you."

* * *

As soon as I got to the captain's quarters, I figured out what Sierra wanted to show me. A flat-screen TV sat right across from the bed in the left corner of the room. My video games and movies were still in the media tote I'd carried on all those trips with my mom. I immediately opened it up, finding all of them still there, as if they'd never gotten in the explosion; Ratchet and Clank, Kingdom Hearts, Dead Space, Mortal Kombat, Assassin's Creed, they were all there. I looked over and saw my consoles; Playstations 2, 3, and 4, sitting on shelves with the TV. But that's not what I was happiest about.

Somehow, Sierra had gotten my mom's external hard drive from the explosion. It had all her pictures, blogs, and videos on it. Next to the drive was two pictures of me, Raven, and our mom when we all went to see Mount Rushmore. I was six, Raven had just turned ten. One was at the mountain itself. Mom had put the camera on a timer and she knelt down behind Raven and me, hugging the both of us. The other picture was of me and Raven in the car that night. We'd just gotten back to our hotel, and Raven was letting six-year-old me sleep in her lap.

"I thought these were lost in the fire." I blurted out. I couldn't believe it.

"I talked to the kids at the Hecate cabin last night." Sierra started to explain. "If anyone, I know what it's like to feel like you have nothing left of your mom, and I didn't want you to feel the same way, so I went through the wreckage and grabbed anything that looked important, and they did a restoration spell on your stuff."

"Sierra, I can't thank you enough for this." I couldn't contain myself anymore. I hugged her instantly, wrapping my arms around her like I used to do for Raven. I didn't know what to expect, but Sierra hugged back instantly.

Suddenly, I felt like I was six years old again, hugging Raven when one of us was upset. It had been years since my sister hugged me like that. Sure, she did it on birthdays or when I gave her a present on Christmas morning, but it didn't feel the same as we got older. Raven had only gotten colder and more distant over the years. I didn't want to tell Sierra how much it really bothered me, but I felt like I was losing my big sister. I didn't want to show it in front of anyone, but I felt something snap inside me, and a low sob pushed its way out of me. I held back the rest, but I guess she noticed.

"You don't have to do all this alone. We're all here with you." Sierra told me. My breath became shaky, but I did my best to hold it together. I tried to focus on how good the hug felt after all those years. I held it for a minute or two before I slowly released my hold on Sierra, sitting down on the bed as I looked at the picture again.

"I'm sorry." I told her as she sat next to me. "It's just...to be honest, it's been years since me and Raven were this close."

"What happened between you two anyway? When did she become so cold and distant?" Sierra asked, taking a look at the photo. "She looks so happy and gentle here."

"Well, you know what I told you about our mom cheating on her dad?"

"Yeah."

 **SOMA Soundtrack – End Credits Theme**

"Well, when it happened, Raven and I were completely kept in the dark. Mom wouldn't tell us why her dad left, or when he'd come back if he even would. When mom started traveling all the time, we'd always stay in hotels. While mom wrote her blogs and articles, I'd go looking for Raven to play with her. Most times I found her, she'd be curled up in a ball in the bathroom, looking at a picture of her dad, crying her eyes out. I never wanted her to be upset, so I'd hug her, and she'd hold me like a teddy bear, sobbing into my shoulder until she calmed down.

"But then, when she turned thirteen, it changed. I guess Mom figured Raven was ready for the truth, so she told her about the affair with _my_ dad. I was just nine, but that's when I remembered Raven becoming more and more distant. I remember finding her in another crying fit once, but when I tried to hug her, she just pushed me away, wiped her eyes, and pulled herself together like it was nothing."

"She was freaking out when you were passed out after killing that chimera. Obviously she still cares about you. Did she figure out that it wasn't your idea for your mom to cheat on her dad?"

"No. You know how I told you that Raven didn't lose her virginity 'by choice'?"

"I figured you didn't want to talk about that, but yeah."

"Well, when I turned thirteen, Mom told me about the affair too. Raven had already left for her date, on my birthday by the way, so I tried to call her on her cell phone. She didn't answer, and when Mom couldn't reach her either, I got worried. I snuck out and started looking around for her. I think I looked around the city for an hour before I found Raven. I heard her screaming in an alley in the pouring rain. As soon as I found her...it was too late. Her 'date' had already forced her to...you know."

"Oh gods." Sierra clearly didn't like hearing about that part.

"Yeah. Looking back, I should have at least had suspiscions that I had powers. I went berserk. I attacked him, threw him off Raven..." I couldn't get the next part out. I didn't know if Sierra would understand, but I had a feeling that she wouldn't look at me the same way ever again, and neither would anyone else. "...and then strangled him into passing out. Raven and I made a run for Mom's minibus, and we got out of there in a hurry. Raven spent the whole ride with her arms wrapped around me."

"So you made sure that guy didn't get away with hurting her. But with her trying to join the Hunt, it's like she's turning her back on you."

"That doesn't matter to me. As much as I want my big sister again, I'd rather she stay alive and leave me behind, than stay with me and get caught in the crossfire."

"What happened to her 'date' afterwards anyway?"

I hesitated for a second, but I knew exactly what to tell her. "I don't know. I guess he went into hiding or something, because we didn't hear anything from him again. Look, can we change the subject? I really don't like to talk about this."

"Alright." Sierra said. "How about we watch one of your movies with lunch? Divergent's one of my favorites."

"Sounds good to me." I said, getting off the bed to the table in view of the TV, a triple cheeseburger and large fries from Steak & Shake appearing on the plate, and a Mountain Dew slushy in the goblet. But even as Sierra put the movie in and hit play, I tried to hold back the memories of what happened that night. I'd never forget the rain coming down in sheets, the lightning flashing through the night, or what happened next. Raven's date was laughing as he had her trapped in his grip. He either didn't notice, or didn't care she was fighting her hardest to break free from him, screaming and crying from what he did to her.

I didn't hold back. I screamed in rage, grabbed him, and threw him into a wall. I should have realized what kind of strength I had then, but I hated him too much to care how I did it. But what I did next was nothing like what I told Sierra what happened. I didn't strangle him into losing consciousness. I beat the hell out of him, wanting him to feel every last bit of pain he'd put Raven through, but I never held back. Raven's shouts for me to stop fell on deaf ears. I beat him until he couldn't get back up. Then, I puhsed my foot down on his upper back, then pulled at his head with all my rage and strength, and ripped his head right off. I would have said 'clean' off, but with blood gushing from his neck and pooling on the street, 'clean' wasn't exactly an accurate word.

When it was over, Raven was the one who shook me back to my senses, forcing down her shock and pain until we got back to Mom. The three of us never talked about that incident again, no matter what. But no amount of traveling and distractions could have blocked out that night; the night I killed someone.

* * *

 **Sorry if this chapter went in a much darker direction than most of you guys might have wanted. Also, I'd like suggestions for the hiding places of all five Keys of Ascension. Seriously, that would really help out this story's course.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14, Saved by the Search**

 **Before I start this chapter, I feel like I need to point out that the location I picked for this chapter is actually a real town and museum. I wanted to be as geographically accurate as I could. According to Google Maps, it's somewhat close to New York, but far enough away to take a few hours of flight.**

 **Luna's POV**

* * *

You know what's worse than bad news ruining your day? Someone else's bad new ruining your day. James disappeared after the movies, and I found him up on the deck of the ship. It was late afternoon, and I found him leaning on the railing on the side of the ship, watching the landscape go by.

The view was incredible. Fields cut through the forests like large green tiles on a floor. The sky was mostly clear of clouds, so we had a full open view of the landscape below. It was easy to understand why James was up here. The view of a forest through a car's windows can't beat the view from in the air. It's like you can see everything. It made me wonder if this was like how the gods felt when they look down at the world from Olympus.

But no matter how beautiful the view was, James still looked depressed about Lisa. To be honest, I wasn't completely ok either. Lisa had been so nice to me and James, even letting the two of us share a room together when we'd stay at hotels, not that anything happened. My dad and Jame's actual mom obviously would never have let us have that kind of privacy. The biggest thing was that where James' and I both had tight lipped parents about the parents who weren't there for us, aka Pan and Artemis, Lisa sympathized with our search for answers, and encouraged us to keep looking, but invited us to stay with her and even offered to help too. She'd been more like a mom to me and James too.

"You know, for someone who just got answers about his dad, you sure look depressed." I said. James didn't answer, or even look up. "Look, I miss Lisa too, but we have to be strong for Zane and..."

"It's my dad." James interrupted me. "Pan...he's dead."

 **The Walking Dead Game OST – Alive Inside**

He said it so abruptly, it felt like he was yanking off a bandage, which took some of his body hair with it. He sounded so sure, but I didn't get it. "Wait. What?" I asked, confused, and officially worried. "Th-th-that doesn't make any sense. Gods can't die. They're immortal!"

"The gods may be immortal, but Grover and the council of Cloven Elders told me everything. About four years ago, Grover found Pan, who'd been missing for centuries. Over the years, the wilderness, Pan's domain, has been growing weaker and weaker, pollution piling up and poisoning everything in its path. Over time, the destruction slowly affected Pan himself, making him grow weaker and weaker with nature itself."

James' words were starting to make sense. Back at the camp, whenever we mentioned Pan around James, whoever was nearby at the time got a nervous look in their eyes; a look that said 'He doesn't know?' or 'Who's going to tell him?'. That's why everyone looked so nervous and uneasy whenever James asked about Pan, or why his cabin was so empty. Pan was gone.

"Grover's dad spent his life looking for Pan, but never returned. And when Grover himself found Pan in the Labyrinth of Daedelus, the nature god was dying, extinct animals huddled around his deathbed. Gods are supposed to be able to change their appearances to look however they want, but Pan...looked so aged and withered, there was no doubt he was dying. He told Grover to tell all the nature spirits to carry on his work and protect what was left of the wild, and then...Pan faded, disappearing from existence, the extinct animals vanishing with him."

I couldn't believe it. Whatever I could possibly be going through with my mom, it was nothing compared to what was happening to James. He'd _never_ get to meet his dad. He didn't even know his own father was dying until four years after the nature god had already faded away. I didn't know what I could say to make him feel better, but I tried hugging him, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." That was all I could think of to say.

"It's ok." James said, putting an arm around my back. "I just...if my dad faded away so easily, what if my powers work the same way? What if I start getting weaker and weaker until I can't do anything? I'll be useless to you guys."

"What? No!" He was starting to feel worthless, and I had to snap him out of it. "You're part of the Great Prophecy!"

"Luna!" I heard Raven shouting to me from behind. She no doubt wanted to talk about something, but I didn't want to leave James alone like this.

"I'll be right back." I told him, kissing him on the cheek before going over to see what Raven wanted. "Yeah? Something wrong?"

"I don't think your mom's going to let you keep dating James. You might have to break up with him." she said, lowering her voice so James couldn't hear us.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I started, looking behind me to make sure James wasn't listening. He'd just gone back to looking out over the railing. Still, I tried to keep my voice down so he didn't overhear. "Whether or not I join the Hunt is up to me, not her!"

"Think about it Luna. Your mom's a virgin goddess. Having kids, for her, isn't exactly encouraged. There's no way she's going to let her own daughter run around with a boyfriend."

"That's not her decision anyway. If my mom can't be around in my life, like I'm not important enough, then I shouldn't have to give up James just because she all of a sudden wants me to break up with my boyfriend!"

"What about James? Think about it. Artemis hates men. She turned some guy named Actaeon into a stag just because he saw her naked. Imagine what she'd do to James for sleeping with you."

"Oh come on! We haven't even..." I didn't manage to get the last part out, because that's when the realization hit me. What if Raven was right? What if James was in danger just because my mom was overprotective? No! I had to remember the story of Orion. Artemis fell in love with him once, so she had to understand how I felt about James.

"Luna, it's best that you just leave James as soon as we meet Artemis...for his sake." Raven didn't seem to get it. Thankfully, a bell started ringing from the wheel.

"We're here!" Leo called everyone's attention over the intercom. Everyone to the deck for briefing."

* * *

We landed the ship in a clearing not too far from the town. There weren't many people around, but one old man looked at our ship, obviously confused, then walked away, grumbling something about 'dern news choppers'. I don't know how the Mist could fool mortals like that so easily, but in that case, I'd chalk it up to the old guy's...um...senileness.

"The coordinates were just latitude and longitude, so I guess they didn't really pinpoint it's _exact_ position at the time." Leo explained.

"So that means we're going to have to search the town to find the Ascension Javelin." Zane said.

"Well, quests are usually in teams of three, since in Ancient Greece, three was considered a lucky number." Annabeth suggested.

"Alright, teams of three it is." Zane started looking around at all of us. "Since it would involve adding a third wheel, let's avoid having dating couples in these teams."

"Aw!" Zane's response got instant groanings and complaints all over the place.

"Kidding!" Zane cracked a bit of a smile. "Pick whoever you want for your search team."

I immediately grabbed James' arm, but Raven still got too close for comfort. She was being really stubborn about me joining the Hunt. Annabeth went right into Percy's search team, followed by Grover. Will tried to talk to Nico, who instead went with Frank and Hazel, so Will went with Clarisse and Chris instead. Sierra stood next to Zane, and Reyna joined them too. Piper was already holding hands with Jason, and Thalia was apparently chaperoning the two of them. That just left Leo, Calypso, and Lou, but that would have left the whole ship unguarded.

"Well, we can't leave the ship unguarded, so Leo, Calypso, Lou, you three stay on the ship."

"What if one group finds the javelin and is already on their way back to the ship, while the rest of us are still searching?"

"I actually thought of that." Lou brought up. She dug into her backpack and took out six packs of what looked like birthday candles, three candles per package. But for some reason, the candles in each pack were a different color; green, yellow, and red.

"What are those? Birthday candles for traffic cops?" Leo joked.

"Haha. No." Lou answered. She held up one of the candle packs. "These are flares I made before the quest. Hold one candle upside down and pull the wick out, and it'll shoot up a flare that only demigods can see and hear. The mist will make mortals just see someone shooting up fireworks or something."

"In the middle of the day?"

"Don't ask me. Ask my mom. She's the goddess of magic and the Mist." Lou tried to keep the explanation focused on the flares. "Each one is a different color, so each is for a different signal to regroup. Green means you have the javelin and are headed back to the ship, yellow means you found the javelin, but can't bring it back yet, and we need to regroup, and red means your group's in danger and need immediate backup."

"Alright, send up these flares if we need to regroup for whatever reason. Let's get going guys. The sooner we get the javelin, the sooner we can get out of here." I gotta admit. Zane was getting really good at speeches like this.

* * *

I'd almost forgotten how much I missed old fashioned country towns like this. The crunch of gravel backroads, the sight of trees mixed in with all the buildings, the candy stores with the rarest sweets in America, you just can't get an experience like that in a big city. And before you say 'well no one ever goes to country towns like that', that's usually the point. No crowds, no traffic, it's a better place for a relaxing vacation than a crowded beach.

Lisa could never resist towns like this. They were so photogenic, they were perfect for her videos and blogs. Towns like this were also breeding grounds for urban legends and ghost stories. She'd never pass up a tall tale or local folklore. Those were her favorite stops. Zane wasn't usually a big fan of this stuff. He mostly just wanted to go back to playing video games on the road. Raven wasn't really a big fan of old country stores either, but she'd look around, get some candy or something, probably because her mom loved stuff like that.

The museum we were about to search had a gift shop right outside, with one of my favorites, rock candy. This time, however, Raven was waiting around, acting like she needed to chaperone us the whole time. James and I were trying to pick out rock candy flavors, but Raven kept sighing in boredom. I had a feeling that since Lisa wasn't here, she didn't have much of a reason to pretend to be interested in any of this.

"Can we hurry up? We need to find that javelin and get out of this town." she complained. In hindsight, maybe Zane's suggestion about avoiding dating couples shouldn't have been a joke. I kept trying to make a date out of this, but Raven was basically a third wheel. I considered going with Thalia if we had to split up into teams again. A girl's night out would be much easier to fit Raven into than a date.

"Just give us a second." I told her.

"What's her problem?" James whispered to me.

"She must be bored. You know she and Zane were never into this stuff. They just basically faked it for Lisa." I whispered back. Since Raven kept making her boredom annoyingly obvious, we figured we should just pick a flavor at random just to shut her up, so I picked orange and James picked lime.

Raven immediately watch the skies for a signal that one of the other teams had found the javelin. "Nothing. How long do we have to keep looking around for this stupid key?"

"Raven, we've got six teams looking for this key. One of us is bound to find it at some point. This town isn't very big." I tried to reassure her.

"Maybe we'll have better luck at this museum. Wouldn't it make sense for an artifact to end up there?" James suggested.

"Sounds like as good an idea as any." I answered. I wanted to point out this was mostly a history museum. Aside from antiques from the American Revolution and Civil War, I didn't think we'd find alot of ancient artifacts around here. On the other hand, Annabeth told me that magical items could turn into ordinary objects; like how my new bow and quiver turned into a silver purse. My two daggers were just sheathed in my belt, but I guess the Mist was just making those invisible.

"Isn't this mostly an art museum?" Raven pointed out. "I really don't think we'll find an ancient magical javelin hidden in one of the paintings."

* * *

Raven had a point about he paintings. Aside from old-time clothes on display, and a few sculptures of horses, there really wasn't much to look at in there. After suffering through the historical clothing displays, James and I were relieved to find a room with animal paintings in it. No matter how boring a museum was, James and I were easily entertained by paintings of animals. I was starting to have a feeling it had something to do with our godly parents having domains over nature.

"Guys, even with magic, there's no way the Mist could disguise the javelin as a painting. We need to check for some kind of...rifle, or...rowboat paddle. Something long." Our third wheel was at it again.

"Raven, can you give me and Luna a second?" James interrupted her, suddenly stopping me from losing it. "Maybe that room back there has something." James pointed to another room to the right of the door we came in through.

Raven sighed. "Alright, but I'll be right back." she said before heading into the other room.

"What's her problem?" James whispered as soon as Raven was out of earshot.

"She's taking the whole bodyguard thing a bit too seriously." I answered, trying to sound calm like it was obvious.

"But she knows me better than that. Didn't she want to talk to you about something back on the ship?"

Dammit! I didn't want to bring this up to him. He had enough on his plate already. "Oh that? Just uh...the whole roommate assignment thing. Since she's my bodyguard, she wants me to be her roommate on the ship."

"That doesn't explain why she's acting like a third wheel all of a sudden. Did she mention anything else?"

I hated lying to him, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell about the chance of my mom hurting him because of our relationship. Luckily, I didn't have to.

"Guys!" Raven shouted from the back room. "I found it!" I quickly grabbed James' hand and pulled him along with me as I ran in there to see if Raven had really found the javelin. As we got in, my eyes darted around, then Raven pointed to two fishing rods mounted on the wall, not crossed in a complete X, but only the front ends were crossed, so the space between the paintings and the ceiling was filled. I had to concentrate to see through the Mist, but there it was. Its metal looked like a mixture of bronze and gold, six feet long, with a dagger-shaped spearhead tied to the end.

"That's it!" James said excitedly, but it didn't last that long. "Quick question, how do we get it out of here without being noticed?" he lowered his voice because of the tourists in the next room of paintings. Back the way we'd come from, a few hairy looking janitors were cleaning the floor, so we really couldn't afford to draw attention to ourselves. For a second, I felt like those janitors were watching us. Not just the other tourists, but the three of us specifically.

"I did not think of that." Raven said.

"Well, we won't be able to get any closer to it until the museum's closed, so let's regroup with the others and make a plan." I suggested.

"Alright, let's get going." James told us. We headed out way out, ignoring all the other exhibits since we needed to hurry up and get back to the ship. But we were almost out the door when James stopped us. "Wait. Do you hear that?"

I listened, but I didn't hear anything but the barely audible tourists in the back. "Hear what?"

"Something...I don't know...roaring. I think I heard some kind of dinosaur."

"Dinosaur?" Raven asked. "James, come on, we don't have time for this." Before she could stop him, James headed back and turned left at the black horse carriage in the lobby. The lady at the front desk was on a break, so we had no choice but to follow James, right to a door that said 'Staff Only'.

"James!" I tried to keep my voice down as he peked inside the door. "We're not supposed to be back here!"

"We're planning to steal one of the exhibits later anyway." he pointed out.

"Exactly, and I don't want to be in any more trouble than is already necessary."

He didn't listen to me, of course, and went through the door anyway. I didn't want him to get arrested on what was already our worst date ever, so I followed him in, and came face to...what-was-left-of-the-face with a fossilized Triceratops skeleton. No seriously. A history museum had a skeleton of Triceratops bones in the back.

"What the heck?" Raven asked. "I thought this was a country village museum? What's a dinosaur skeleton doing here?"

"Maybe it was found in this town?" I thought.

"Doubt it." Raven said. "Let's just get out of here. This skeleton isn't our problem." I agreed with Raven, so I grabbed James by the arm and pulled him back outside, hauling him back to the ship.

I had to drag him by the arm until we got outside, but I managed to get his attention long enough for him to pull out the flares. He took out the yellow one, held it upside down, and pulled the wick. It shot up into the air with a whistle like fireworks, which is exactly what we saw when it flew high enough above the trees and exploded, a series of bright yellow fireworks. How we were able to see them during the day, I didn't want to know.

"No wonder Lou said the others would see that. Only the Mist could make people miss that." I commented.

"Fine, we'll head back to the ship, but I have to see that skeleton again when we come back." James insisted, running ahead of us. I forgot how stubborn he could be. But it made me wonder. What was so important about that skeleton, that he had to go back for it? And another thing, how did he know that was there?

* * *

 **If anyone knows where I can find close up screenshots of the five World Weapons from God of War Ascension, it would really help alot. Or just PM me your best descriptions of the other four weapons.**

 **Also, next chapter, I've finally figured out how to work in one of the kinds of enemies from the God of War games.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15, I'm Breaking into a Museum, Do NOT Tell my Mom**

 **Finally getting to see one of the archetypes of God of War monsters. You'll know which kind when you read my descriptions of their weapons. Also, the fight scene in this chapter may seem short, but I referenced a song from one of the Metal Gear games for the climax. You'll know which one when it happens.**

 **Also, sorry this chapter took so long. I've been binge-watching Kamen Rider lately.**

 **James' POV**

* * *

I know what you're going to say. 'You were hearing voices?' I'm not crazy! And no! I'm not going to say 'My mother had me tested.' But I should really get back to the story before I keep a 'voices in my head' rant going.

Anyway, we were back on the ship, and Luna explained the whole situation to Zane and the others.

"We found the Javelin." she explained. "The Mist is somehow disguising it as a fishing pole."

"And James started hallucinating." Raven added, interrupting Luna.

"Hey! He found that dinosaur skeleton didn't he?"

"How did only he hear it roaring? Face it. James..."

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" Zane yelled to get our attention.

"Before we left, I could have sworn I heard a dinosaur, just like in Jurassic Park." I started.

"Sounds like movies on the brain to me." Raven said, still trying to pass it off as a hallucination.

"Raven! Stay out of this already!" Luna kept sticking up for me. "Yes, only James could hear that dinosaur roar, but when he followed it, the three of us found the fossilized bones of a Triceratops."

As soon as Zane said "Hmmmm." under his breath, while crossing his arms, I knew he had an idea. I didn't need to read his emotions to know that. "Grover, didn't you tell us that Pan was surrounded by extinct animals while on his deathbed?"

"Yeah. I guess his power over nature included control over dead animals as well as alive." Grover guessed.

"Zane?" Sierra asked, looking at him like she knew what he was thinking too. "What are you thinking?"

"I have a theory I want to try out. James, you're going on the retrieval team tonight." Zane declared.

"Wait what?" Raven asked, clearly confused.

"I'm going too. I might be stronger at night." Luna asked. I could tell she just wanted an excuse to go with me.

"Outdoors, probably. But breaking into a museum? We need a child of the god of thieves. Chris, you're draft pick number 2." Zane added.

"One more thing. There were a few weird janitors in there." Luna added.

"What kind of weird?" Percy asked, as if it mattered. "There's two kinds of weird; the 'probably a monster disguised as a human' weird, and the 'people you see at Wal*Mart' weird."

"Uh...they were hairy and smelly." Luna described.

"Could still be monsters." Grover said. "We should send a combat specialist in there in case a fight breaks out."

"Alright, I'll go." Zane volunteered.

"Oh no you don't!" Sierra put her hand in front of him to stop him. "Your dad basically started this quest, and might as well have painted a big target on your forehead. I'll go. An Ares kid with 'firepower' will really be a surprise."

"Uh..." Zane was about to protest, but Sierra gave him a look that clearly said 'Don't even think about it', and he caved. "Alright. The retrieval team is James, Chris, and Sierra. You guys be careful down there. Be ready for anything." I raised my hand, having one more question. "Yeah?"

"Um...define 'anything'."

Annabeth started counting off her fingers. "Laistrygonian cannibal giants, dracaenae snake warriors, unkillable skeleton soldiers..."

Sierra put her hand on Annabeth's mouth, cutting the list short. "Let's just stick with 'anything'."

* * *

You might think that breaking into the museum required us to slowly cut a hole in a skylight, use a spray can to see lasers, lower ourselves down on a rope to avoid the motion sensors on the floor, and rewire the security console to shut down all the alarms. Right?

Well, you're dead wrong. Chris used his Hermes powers to unlock the front door, then Sierra knocked out one guard from behind.

No seriously, that was literally the only security we had to deal with on the way in. I guess we forgot this was a history museum, not to mention a museum in the back woods of New York state, far away from any big cities. I guess they didn't have many valuables they thought would be worth stealing.

At the moment, Sierra was giving me a foot up to get the Javelin quietly while Chris kept an eye out.

"Hey James, you sure we should look at those fossils on the way out? It seems a bit..." Chris whispered to us.

"I know what I heard." I insisted. I was not going to leave without getting a better look.

"Hey. Zane thinks we to try it out. I say we do it." Sierra added. I tried not to notice that she agreed with me because _Zane_ told us to try it.

"Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't trust James' instincts. His dad's the god of nature. I've heard what he's done so far." Chris pointed out.

"Then what is it?"

"All I'm saying is that it seems a little weird that a dinosaur skeleton would be in the storage room of a country village museum. To me, the skeleton seems...out of place."

I managed to release the hooks keeping the Javelin on the wall. With a glow like a bonfire, it transformed from its fishing rod disguise into the Javelin of Ascension we were looking for. "Yes!" I almost made noise as I jumped down. Suddenly, I had images flash in my sight, Kratos himself holding the Javelin. The images changed to what looked like memories, like how photos in a video transition to footage. One memory was Kratos throwing the javelin, but it kept reappearing in his hand every time it hit a target. Another memory showed the javelin being thrown upwards, then multiplying into duplicates before coming down, impaling a group of warriors.

"Whoa." I said, a little dizzy after the vision ended.

"What happened? You looked like you were about to pass out." Sierra asked.

"I think I had some kind of vision. It was...Kratos using the javelin against a few warriors."

"That almost looks like Celestial Bronze, but it's not glowing." Chris pointed out.

"Who cares what it's made of? Let's just find that skeleton and get out of here!" Sierra insisted. I agreed and made a run for the main lobby, planning to go straight into the 'employees only' area, but of course, we were ambushed by unexpected company.

"I told you he'd fall for the bait." said the hairy guy in the middle. It was those janitors we'd seen earlier that day. Only this time, they had actual psycho-murderer grins, and were all carrying nightmarish weapons. The big guy in the middle had a small grappling hook on a handle attached to his belt (resembling the Assassin's Creed logo), but carried a huge sword with four saw-like teeth on each side, the biggest teeth near the hilt. Another one carried a big staff with a wide, curved, barbed blade on each end. The third guy's spear had a point the sise of a sword at the end, and the butt of the staff curved into a pointed hook, which looked way too deadly for fishing. Hairy psycho number four carried a simple sword with a hook shape at the forward end, but held a small, ceramic ball in the other hand, most likely a grenade, which he likely had more of in the bag hanging from his shoulder. The last guy dual wielded a deadly weapon that looked like a cross between brass knuckes and daggers. Three blades extended in the direction of the knuckles, so it looked like Wolverine had turned his blades horizontal. The most disturbing thing? The blades had a greenish glow around them.

"Um...is an unexpected ambush a regular thing for demigod quests?" I asked, trying to hold the javelin like I knew how to use it.

"Nope. Usually, they've already tried to kill us by now." Chris answered.

"Who are you guys? What bait?" Sierra asked the crazies.

The middle crazy started chuckling as he took off his hat. The others did the same, revealing what could only be goat horns. Well, the middle guy's horns started orange near his head, but zigzagged up in two corners, darkening to purple, then black at the top. The others' horns just curled into a ram-like shape.

"You guys are satyrs? Wait. Doesn't that mean you should be helping us?" I tried to reason with them. If they really were satyrs, they should be on our side. "I'm a son of Pan. Does that help?" I announced, hoping they would be more open to negotiations.

Unfortunately, their response was to scream demonically and turn into bipedal flesh-eating goats. Their uniforms turned into blue and gold armor. The other four were brown in color, but the middle guy had white fur.

"That would be a no." Sierra commented.

"So you guys don't worship Pan?" I asked, infinitely confused at this point. These guys were clearly not normal satyrs. And it wasn't just the monstrous transformation or deadly weapons that gave it away.

"You're very existence is a blasphemy against Pan!" The biggest satyr's voice had become demonic and raspy. "Humans are the poison of nature! Pan would never have mated with one of those abominations!"

"So you're just going to kill me?" I asked, starting to freak out. I would have made a comment about them insulting my mom, but when you're being threatened by a group of demon goat-people, you tend to lose nerve at the first glance. To add more fuel to my nightmares, the other satyrs started laughing. Trust me, raspy demon laughter is enough to give you nightmares when it's just one demon laughing. But five?

"We're not going to kill you here!" said one on the left. "We're going to use your blood in a ritual. If you truly are Pan's son, your blood spilled could bring him back!"

"Um...I really don't think that's how it works. And wouldn't Pan be kinda pissed at you guys for killing his son?" Sierra asked, pointing out how well they thought their plan through.

"Worth it to see the great god of nature again!"

"And even if it doesn't work, his existence is an insult to Pan anyway!"

"I really don't like where this is going." I pointed out.

"James, get to the skeleton!" Sierra quickly said.

"What? This isn't the time for..."

"Shut up! Zane had an idea when he sent you on this mission. Trust him!"

The middle satyr suddenly burst out laughing evilly again. I really wanted them to stop doing that. "Do you honestly believe we would risk letting him get that kind of power?! We brought that old fossil here hoping to lure out the legendary 'Son of Pan' whom the nymphs have been spreading news about across nature like a wildfire...That was a really bad comparison."

The others drew their weapons; Chris' twin short swords and Sierra's flaming sword (so not fair).

"It was bait!" I realized, holding the spear. "You knew I'd investigate it!"

"Of course!" said the middle satyr. "And now..." he drew his nightmarish sword. "YOU DIE!" he charged at me. He would have sliced me in half, but then Sierra blocked with her flaming sword at the last second.

"JAMES! GO!" She insisted on me going to check out that skeleton, but it was in the middle of a fight. I figured she'd only push me into that back rom if I didn't, so I made a run for it while she used her free hand to blast the satyr with a fire blast. I heard the clangs of metal blades colliding as I shoved the doors open.

I had to hurry. Two demigods, no matter how skilled, wouldn't be able to hold off against those monsters for long. I ran straight for the fossils and put my hand on the triceratops' skull. Immediately, I had a vision. You might call it a hallucination, but you don't live in a world where magic is everywhere, but hidden from mortal eyes. Anyway, suddenly, I was standing in an empty version of the room, but instead of a fossil, my hand was on the nose of a living, breathing, flesh & blood Triceratops.

"No way. What's going on?"

The Triceratops moaned, sending his thoughts into my head (yes I could tell it was a he). Somehow, my presence near his bones helped to call his spirit back. He had sensed the fight outside, so he wanted to help. Did being a son of Pan make me this popular with animals? (And did dinosaurs even count as animals?)

"But how? You're a skeleton by now." I reminded it. Its response was surprising. Like my dad, I had the power to reanimate extinct animals. It was similar to Hades' children power of Necromancy, but it only works with animal spirits since that power belongs to Pan and his children.

As crazy as it sounded, this had already turned out to be a night for crazy chances. Besides, Chris and Sierra were already outnumbered back at the entrance, so I had to act fast. Pulling away my hand, I ended my vision and was once again kneeling by the fossils. I put my hand back on the skull and focused all the energy I could on it, trying to will the skeleton to put itself back together. Part of me kept telling me I couldn't do it, so I had to force it down by telling myself I had to.

I almost lost my focus when I felt a tugging sensation in my gut. Percy had told me about this earlier. It was the feeling of losing energy by using my demigod powers. That was a sign that it was working, so I didn't release until the sensation went away and my gut relaxed again. That told me I'd finished, so I released my hold, but immediately felt like I'd run a marathon. My breathing got heavier and all my muscles felt sore, but that could only be a sign that it worked, so I opened my eyes.

Just like in my vision, a living green-skinned Triceratops was standing right in front of me, roaring like a battle cry. I don't know if it was adrenaline or panic, but I pulled myself up and climbed onto the dino's back, sitting on its neck behind its shield. Luckily, that telepathy with animals worked both ways, so I could talk to the dinosaur as well, and it got the message and charged for the door.

 **(RULES OF NATURE!)**

Right before the Triceratops, which I had almost named Spike, rammed through the door, I ducked behind the shield. The dinosaur's face might be armored enough to smash through wood, but mine wasn't. I felt like time was slowing down as Spike charged through the entrance lobby. Once I heard the wood smash over my head, I looked up just in time to see the small, armored satyr get impaled on Spike's short horn. Sierra and Chris were just then getting out of the way. The big satyr was alot stronger though, and grabbed the two big horns before he'd gotten impaled. However, he still got pushed through the doors at the front. I ducked again to avoid getting a face full of broken glass, but I could still feel a few pieces landing on my back, my jacket the only thing between those tiny shards and my skin. As Spike skidded to a stop, I looked up and saw the big satyr pushing against the horns. I had a guess on what was about to happen, so I jumped off before Spike got slammed to the ground.

Javelin in hand, I attacked the big satyr myself. Somehow, though it was lighter, the javelin easily deflected the saw sword's blows. It definitely had magical properties. After trading a few blows, I managed to redirect the sword to get stuck in the ground, then slashed the spear's head at the wrist holding it. After screaming and backing up, black blood darkening his fur, big white pulled its other weapon, which turned out to be a whip with a glowing retractable cord.

I really didn't want to see if the spear could deflect that, so I improvised and threw it, nailing the satyr on the other wrist. The vision I had when I grabbed the javelin turned out to be real. It appeared back in my hand as soon as it went through. The satyr screamed in rage and charged at me again, lowering its horns to ram me. I decided to see if the other part was real too, so I threw the spear into the air and jumped out of the way. Time seemed to slow down again as I saw what happened next. It duplicated into five spears and shot down right through the satyr's back, impaling him as he fell to the ground.

When I heard the clangs of metal blades stop on the other side, I figured Sierra and Chris had won their fights, so I sighed in relief as I lay down on the grass. Given my recent dinosaur zombie powers I'd just discovered and used on impulse, I would have gone to sleep there if I Sierra hadn't knelt down over me, making herself look upside down.

"You really suck at stealth." she said before offering me a hand.

"Hey, you're the one who told me to check out the dinosaur skeleton." I said as I took her hand and stood up. I went to retrieve the javelin, but something weird was happening. The satyr's body was turning to ashes in a wave that slowly spread out from the spear. "Whoa!"

"What the hell?" Sierra commented.

"So the Keys of Ascension really do have their own powers." Chris guessed. "You guys remember how those Chimera at the camp left bodies? What if this spear can get rid of them?"

"Try it on the other satyrs." Sierra told me. I pulled the spear out and went back over to the other satyrs, which also left bodies. I stabbed each of them with the javelin, watching in amazement as the weapon immediately turned the monsters to ashes.

"Guys, as much as I'd like to watch the magical science experiment, there's no way this museum break-in/dinosaur attack went unnoticed." Sierra pointed out.

"She's right. Let's grab James' new weapons and get out of here." Chris said.

"Wait. My weapons?" I asked. Sierra answered by pointing at the satyrs' weapons.

"Spoils of war dude."

"I only fought the big one."

"Dude." Sierra instantly gave me a 'you're an idiot' look. "You brought a dinosaur back to life." As much as those weapons scared the crap out of me, I had to admit they were pretty freaking sweet.

Not wanting to argue, the three of us grabbed up the weapons and ran for it. I noticed that Spike had reverted back into fossils, but I decided to let him rest in peace. Mostly because a dinosaur would have drawn even more attention to us.

* * *

"A zombie dinosaur?" Percy asked, still in disbelief. Luna had screamed like a One Direction fangirl when she saw us coming, and had her arms wrapped around my chest from my left side the whole time we were telling the story, and she still wouldn't let go. Seriously, could this night get any better?

"Told ya." Zane smirked, holding his hand out to Jason, who had to fork over twenty bucks. I guess they'd made a bet while we were gone. I wasn't sure if I should be grateful that Zane had so much faith in me, or annoyed that Jason assumed I'd mess up.

"And you're seriously going to keep all those weapons?" Raven asked, looking at all the weapons we'd laid on the table, with the exception of the Javelin of Ascension, which Annabeth was holding now. That one satyr's hook-sword and grenade bag had been trampled when Spike impaled him, but the rest were in tact.

"Oh yeah. He resurrected a dinosaur, Raven." Sierra smirked, eying the weapons. "After bulldozing through those monster satyrs, he's earned them."

"What do you think they were anyway?" Piper asked.

"Well, some of the satyrs blame humans for the Earth's polution so much, they give up all rationality and do whatever it takes to bring humans to extinction in an attempt to make nature stronger." Grover explained. "But I've only heard rumors about them from the Council of Cloven Elders."

"Actually, here they are." Zane went through the Book of Kratos and showed us a picture of them, matching perfectly. "They're called Beast Satyrs. They attacked my dad all the time back in his day."

"Like those bull-horned centaurs that attacked Camp Jupiter." Frank said. "They're a violent breed of a normally peaceful species."

"Hey James, if you don't mind, I need to take measurements of these weapons and send them back to the camp. Mine and Lou's cabinmates are going to want to make more of these." Leo said.

"Sure go ahead Leo." I told him.

"Well, while you're measure weapons, I think we should go to bed." Raven interjected. "Come on Luna."

"Actually..." Luna hesitated to tell her something. "I was going to share a room with James tonight." She hugged me a bit tighter.

"Um, actually, you need to share a room with your BODYGUARD tonight." Raven insisted, grabbing her arm.

"Hey! What's your problem already?!" Luna almost shouted, shaking Raven's hand off. "You've been acting like a third wheel all day!"

"HEY!" Zane shouted, acting as riot control. "I don't know what's going on between you guys, but it stops now!"

"Look, if it'll calm Raven down, at least for the night, I'll bunk with Grover in the room next to your's." I offered a compromise, trying to keep the fight from happening. The last thing we needed was drama onboard the ship.

Luna sighed, looking at Raven angrily before turning back to me, a bummed look on her face. "Ok, but you'll come get me first thing in the morning, right?"

"Of course." I told her as I gave her another hug and kissed her again. She went back to the rooms with Raven, but something was bugging me about how Luna's 'bodyguard' had been acting all day. I tried reading her emotions, but something was wrong. I couldn't sense anything. I thought my powers might have exhausted my empathic abilities, so I tried again with Luna, sensing that she was angry at Raven, but already missed me. My powers were working, just not on Raven.

"James." Grover's hand on my shoulder shook me out of my sensing powers. "You ok?"

"Oh, yeah." I told him. "It's nothing." I lied. I didn't know what was going on.

"Why don't I start teaching you some woodland magic?" Grover asked. "It might help with your powers."

"Sure." I went along, following Grover to find the room next to Luna and Raven. Something was wrong. I wanted to keep a close watch on Raven. If she'd found a way to block my powers, I wanted to know how and why.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16, I take a walk down Flashback Lane**

 **Sorry if this chapter took so long. I just got Skyrim for my birthday. And before anyone points it out, yes, I am quoting directly from God of War in this chapter as much as I can. I felt the need for accuracy in chapters with Kratos flashbacks. Speaking of which, if this chapter seems short, I wanted to focus on a big plot twist.**

* * *

Kratos stood before his army of Spartan warriors, showing them the goal of their next conquest, but it would be the battle Kratos would most regret.

"They've built this temple to offer prayers to Athena!" Kratos shouted, arousing his men's bloodlust. "This entire village stands as an affront to Lord Ares! Burn this village! Burn it to the ground!"

Kratos' army was ruthless, feared throughout the world for their brutality. All that mattered was conquest in the name of Kratos, their great leader, who had become near invincible. He feared nothing, but there was something about this temple; something forbidden. All his instincts told him he should never cross its threshold, never step inside.

Kratos' army ruthlessly attacked the villagers, already feared throughout the world for their brutality. To them, all that mattered was the conquest of their great leader, Kratos, who to them, was second only to Ares himself in terms of power. He feared nothing, inspiring them to stare death in the eye with the same courage and ferocity.

However, as Kratos himself approached the main temple, ignoring the flames rising from the rest of the village, something made him hesitate briefly. All his instincts told him he should never cross its threshold.

"Beware Kratos." The voice of an old woman turned away Kratos' attention. The village oracle, an elderly womman, approached Ares' champion, a staff aiding her weak legs. "The dangers in the temple are greater than you know."

But the village oracle's warning fell on deaf ears. His ambition would not be denied. All who opposed him would die. With the smoke from the village's flames rushing in, Kratos blindly swung the Blades of Chaos as he smashed in the temple doors, slaughtering anyone in his path. The smoke obscuring the faces of his victims, Kratos ignored the terrored screams of the ones he cut down.

But as his last two victims were killed, the screams of horror pierced through Kratos' bloodlust. Familiar voices had broken through the warrior's ambitions.

In that instant, the glory he had revelled in turned to horror. As the smoke cleared, the image of his two final victims burned into his eyes, cursing him with visions of their deaths. He would never forget this night. For how could he forget spilling the blood of his own wife and young daughter?

Kratos knelt in the pool of blood forming under his family, cradling their remains in his arms. Tears had finally escaped the eyes of a man who had slaughtered countless victims. "My wife. My child. How? They were left in Sparta."

At Kratos' words, an image of his master appeared in the flames. "You are becoming all I'd hoped you'd be Kratos. Now with your wife and child dead, nothing will hold you back. You'll become even stronger. You will become death itself!" Ares revealed the truth about what had just transpired. It was his intention to break Kratos' attachments to the world, making him an invincible force with nothing to lose, but the god of war had orchestrated the cruelest trick in all of history.

Kratos' gathered up his family's remains in his arms. Though his army had conquered the village, flames rising from the temple now, not a single voice cheered. All his men could sense the horror and sorrow their leader now showed; a man with killer instinct, now a man who had just lost all he cared about.

As the funeral pyre of Kratos' family burned brighter than all the flames of the village, Kratos realized his true enemy was the god who once saved his life, the same god who had now taken everything else from him.

"I warned you Kratos." The village oracle had survived the attack, and now approached Kratos. With a mere wave of her hand, the oracle had caused the ashes of Kratos' family to fly from the flames like a swarm of locusts. "From this night forward, the mark of your terrible deed will be visible to all. The ashes of your wife and child will remain fastened to your skin, never to be removed." Her words remaned true, the ashes flying onto Kratos' skin, covering his entire body, leaving every inch of his skin white as the pale moon. And with that curse, all would know him for the beast he had become. His skin white with the ashes of his dead family, the Ghost of Sparta had been born.

Kratos' men watched in suspense as their master's sorrow uickly turned to anger, building into rage, boiling into hatred. With but one word in Kratos' shout of rage, the Spartans knew their their leader's new goal, what he now intended. He had but one calling now. He would do the impossible. He would murder the god of war. **"ARES!"**

* * *

 **Zane's POV**

That shout woke me up instantly. The image of Kratos' wife and daughter's dead bodies hadn't been burned into just my dad's mind. That picture was in my mind too now. I may have killed a monster on my first day at the camp, but that's totally different from seeing a human corpse. Trust me. I needed to get up. I seriously doubted I'd be able to sleep after that.

Heading to the mess hall, I took the Book of Kratos and a bottle of Sprite. (I did NOT need caffeine at 2 in the morning) I figured I might as well take a look at my dad's weapons. Might be a good idea to know what we were looking for. You wouldn't believe what kind of weapons I found. One was the Blade of Artemis, a curved, moon-like sword with a purple blade and handle, the sharpened edges of the blade silver. The hunting goddess gave it to my dad during his quest for Pandora's Box. Then there was the Hamer of Hephaestus, an dull orange forge hammer with a pyramid-shaped spike on one end, a studded grid on the other, and a large purple horseshoe-like symbol on either side. Dad took it from Hephaestus' workshop after knocking him unconscious. Then there was the Spear of Hermes, a golden spear with a wing-shaped blade at the end, two bronze snakes twisted inbetween the shaft and the blade. Apparently, dad took the spear and Hermes' boots after breaking the messenger god's legs. That explained how I got kicked out of the Hermes cabin.

I kept turning the pages, looking at all the weapons, but one weapon in particular caught my attention. It was the weapon that Kratos had put his immortality in, giving it the power of a god, the same blade he used to fight of Zeus, the same one he'd made into a legendary weapon that would make any god tremble in fear; The Blade of Olympus.

Most of the sword made from bronze, the Blade of Olympus really did look like a weapon of apocalyptic strength. The face of an angry god left an open mouth where the handle came from, two spikes on each side forming the crossguard. A slot in the middle of the blade rose above a carving of a person holding his hands up, the two sides of the blade itself following his gesture. The sharpened edges of the blade, as well as the carving of the god were a glowing blue, as if the blade emitted fire that hot.

Just looking at the weapon made me nervous. It was a destroyer of gods, a killer of monsters. That sword itself was a force of nature. Part of me wondered, if dad took back his immortality from it, was it still a powerful weapon?

"Hey!" Someone grabbed my shoulders from behind, making me freak out and drop the book. I turned around, shaking, to see Sierra standing behind me.

"Don't do that!" I almost shouted at her. "I play Slender alot."

"Sorry. Couldn't resist." she said as she sat down across from me. For someone who'd just gotten out of bed, Sierra looked unbelievably hot. Her pajamas were basically some kind of tank top and shorts, both of which looked really tight and didn't cover much. The shorts showed almost every inch of her legs too. Her tank top was pretty low cut too, and let's just say she had alot to cover up. Wow. "Hey, you ok?" I hadn't realized I'd been staring.

"Oh, yeah." I quickly said, turning my eyes back to the book as I picked it up. I'd really hoped I hadn't been blushing. "I just had a bad dream, couldn't get back to sleep."

"Was it about the whole thing with Kratos and...his wife and daughter?" I'd almost forgotten that our group had been having the same dreams as I did.

"Yeah. That's the one." I answered, looking at the book again.

There were a few seconds of silence before Sierra said something else. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing." I didn't actually mean it. I just didn't know if I could talk to her at that moment.

"You sure?" she asked.

I don't know if it was how close she and I had become lately, or if it was how hot she looked right then, but I figured out of everyone on the ship, I could trust Sierra.

"Well, it's just...what if that's why my dad left my mom after such a short time? To prevent the same thing that happened to Lysandra and Calliope?"

"Do you think that your mom reminded Kratos of Lysandra? That could be why he was with your mom in the first place." Sierra pointed out.

I didn't have an answer for that, but when she said that, a slight flashback of my dream showed me a closer look at Lysandra and Calliope. The image was still blurry from the smoke, but Lysandra's face looked familiar. I started flipping through the pages, trying to see if my suspiscions were true. I found the right page, and felt like another piece of the puzzle had just fit. The sight of that page felt like something inside me was being pulled to its limit.

"Sierra. Look." I told her, placing the book on the table so I could show her. Her eyes widened as she leaned closer and turned the book around so the picture was right side up to her.

"She looks alot like..." she started.

"Yeah...My mom."

"That's...impossible."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17, I Take a Shot, and Raven Takes a Hit**

 **Hey guys. Sorry about the long wait. I got Skyrim for my birthday, and it has quickly become my favorite game ever. Plus, I'm having a hard time at work, so I'm getting ready to find another job.**

 **Luna's POV**

* * *

As our luck would have it, I was the first of our army of demigods to experience roommate drama. After Raven's constant interuptions on our search for the spear, she and I didn't talk much that night. It was mostly awkward silence.

As soon as we all got up the next morning for breakfast, I immediately took a seat between James and Grover, who'd been talking about which songs were the best on Grover's reed pipes. Well...Grover was talking about it anyway. James looked bored out of his mind. I came up right behind him, wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked, smiling.

"'Cuz I missed you. Duh." As I sat down between them, I then noticed he didn't have his new weapons. "Where'd your spoils of war go?"

"Annabeth measured them last night, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Is she done yet?"

"Hope so. I might need those weapons before we look for the next key, especially now that I've got a magical bounty on my head."

"I can't wait to see you in action with those weapons." I told him. Raven had an annoyed look on her face as she took the seat on James' other side.

"I'd rather try out my nature powers first." James answered.

Zane got up from his table and stood up, so I figured we were either having to land to get supplies or something, or that we'd located the next Key of Ascension.

"Alright guys, we've tracked down the next Key of Ascension." he told us. "We'll be landing soon, so start partnering up. Also, due to complaints from several of you guys about 'third wheel chaperones' on the last landing, dating couples can't be the base for teams this time." Instead of joining in the accompanied groans and complaints, I just gave Raven the stink eye.

* * *

We landed in a clearing next to the woods, not splitting up yet until we'd figured out the search teams. Literally as soon as I got off the ship, a gust of wind slammed a sheet of paper right into my face, confusing me long enough to blindly crash into Raven.

"Hey!" she protested as she pushed me off and stood back up. Still laying on my side on the ground, I pulled the paper off my face, and something clicked in my brain. It was a flyer for an archery contest in this town, and the prize was a shield-like trophy. I had an idea.

"Guys!" I shouted and ran up to Zane to show him the flyer. "The Shield's the trophy at this archery contest!"

"Are you sure?" Sierra looked at the flyer over Zane's shoulder.

"It does look alot like the shield we're looking for." Zane pointed out. "Let's send our three best archers to the contest; Thalia, Luna, and Will."

"Whoa Whoa Whoa!" Raven immediately protested, and just when I thought I was getting away from her too.

"What is it now Raven?!" I finally snapped at her. She'd been driving me completely crazy the day before, going out of her way to ruin my date with James last night, and I was trying to make it clear that I need a break from her.

"What part of 'bodyguard' don't you understand?!"

"ENOUGH!" Zane yelled at the both of us. "Make the archery contest a four-person team if you'll both SHUT UP!"

"Okay." We both said softly, trying to stop the argument. Despite him being one of my best friends, Zane was still pretty good at scaring the crap out of us when he wanted to.

* * *

Not much to say about Harrisburg. It was basically your classic suberb with a patch of woods here and there. Hopefully, if we did get caught up in a monster attack, finding cover and shooting it with arrows wouldn't be very hard. We figured cutting through the woods would be our best bet to make it to the archery contest on time, and for once, our luck seemed to be holding out, but Thalia warned me not to expect our luck to hold out for very long. In Greek mythology, good luck usually turned bad very quickly. Since she knew more about this than I did, I didn't argue with her.

Raven was up in front talking to Thalia about the hunt, with me and Will following them. I wanted to talk to someone about what was going on, but I didn't want Raven to hear any of it. "Any idea what's her problem? I haven't been able to get one second alone with James since we left the camp."

"She's probably just taking her new bodyguard job really seriously." Will told me.

"There's a ton of other demigods back there on the ship. I'm sure there's enough backup. Besides, who would go after _me_ specifically?"

"Well, all the gods have enemies. You really think a daughter of the _virgin_ goddess isn't going to turn some heads?"

"So I'm a freak just because I exist?"

"Don't ask Thalia that. One of the great prophecies our camp had to deal with centered around a child of the big three, and the gods don't get any bigger than Zeus. Not to mention Percy and N...Nico." Something about the way he said Nico made something click in my brain, but I decided not to ask.

"Your dad's Apollo right?"

"Yeah, your mom's twin brother."

"Does that make us cousins?"

"Kind of, but the godly side of your family doesn't count. That's why it's not uncommon to see an Apollo camper dating a Hades one."

"Wait. There's only one Hades kid, right? Is he dating someone?"

Will seemed to hesitate a bit before answering, as if it were hard to get out. "He used to be. Don't ask."

I was about to ask anyway, but then Thalia interupted. "We're here!" she shouted. We all ran ahead to see it.

* * *

There wasn't much to the range if you ask me. It's surrounded by woods, but there was an open field with targets all over the place, which seemed easier. I figured the contest would be in the open field so judges could easily pick a winner.

While we were waiting in line to sign up, I got the feeling someone was watching us. I looked around and spotted three guys, one with a crew cut and the other two with completely shaved heads. They all wore leather jackets and pants, and wore viscious expressions on their faces, as if all the other teams here were the targets for them to turn into pin cushions.

"Do those guys look extra dangerous to you?" I asked Will.

He looked over at them. "They seem pretty normal to me. Probably just super competitive."

After we'd all signed in, the range's owner made us wait behind the target line while he gave a speech about archery being a lost art, and the hunting spirit, blah blah blah, while we all waited for him to shut up and start. Then he showed us the trophy, and our team could see it; The Shield of Ascension. If I didn't look hard enough, it looked like a wooden plaque with bronze arrows crossed on the front of it, with plates with the range's name, the contest event, and a blank plate for the winners' names. If I concentrated, I could see its shape change into that like two ends of an arrow. The bottom was the arrowhead, and the top had three points, like the arrow's fletchings. There was a golden oval in the middle of it.

Raven was waiting on the sidelines, since there was a rule about teams of three, thank the gods, and Will, Thalia and I were the best archers. With the announcement to begin the contest, one member of each team lined up behind the shooting line. I was first up, so I took a deep breath as they told us to wait for their signal to shoot. At the signal, I let loose and fired away. The arrow hit the target's exact center. When I looked over around the other targets, only one other archer hit his target dead center. It was the crew cut guy. He gave me a smirk that looked as if he was personally gloating. I didn't know what his problem was with me, but I'd find out soon enough.

Thalia was up next, and once again, our team got the dead center of the target. As much as that seemed like a good sign, that 'too good to be true' rule in Greek mythology instantly came to mind again. Same thing happened with Will. I guess being the son of an archery god has a very special advantage with the bow. I didn't know how, but Crew Cut and his buddies kept getting dead center too.

Crew Cut and his buddies especially freaked me out during the next round. The targets were pictures of deer with circles for kill zones. All six of us managed to land our arrows into the eyes, but so did the scary opponents. That wasn't what freaked me out. They chuckled a bit as they landed their shots, as if they were imagining a real deer dying in their headshots.

It all came down to a tie breaker between the three of us and the leather gang. All six of us had to take two shots at once. The best shots would take home the trophy. For our first shot, all six of us managed to land the target's dead center. It all came down to this last shot. I took a deep breath and tried to steady my aim. I said a silent prayer to mom and Apollo, as the three of us agreed to do before the contest. We had to believe that the archery twins would favor the quest to save the world. When the signal came, I took the chance. I released my arrow, time seeming to slow down as it flew to the target.

Then, a miracle happened. The twins had answered our prayers. Everyone's arrows had hit the targets' centers again, but only mine managed to split the first arrow, scoring our team the highest points, and winning the whole contest for us. The whole crowd cheered like crazy as the judges brought us the trophy.

The instant the Shield of Ascension was in my hands, I saw a vision, like how James touched the Javelin and saw how to use it. I saw Kratos dashing forward with a burning gold aura around him, holding the shield forward. It looked like an unstoppable charge. Another vision showed Kratos throwing the shield Captain America style. I was excited. There were too many mortals around for a monster to try anything, right?

Wrong! You know that whole thing I kept worrying about with good luck always turning bad in Greek mythology, well, that's when everything went to Hades. You think they just brought us the trophy and let us all go home? Wrong again! As soon as the Shield was in my hands, I heard a screeching sound screaming through the air. Sonic arrows embedded themselves in the ground around the crowd, plunging them into a fully blown panic, scattering them all over.

Only three people didn't even move when the sonic arrows struck. Crew Cut and his cronies were still there, pulling new arrows from their quivers. These looked absolutely deadly and razor sharp, with a familiar flow of steam running from the arrowhead to the fletchings. I suddenly recognized that metal. It was the same as the throwing knife from Thalia's Tree. Raven came up to our group as all four of us drew and nocked arrows too.

"Where did you get those arrows?! What the Hades are those?!" I shouted to them as the crowds dispersed. "

"You don't need to know that, daughter of Artemis." I knew it! For demigods, complete strangers knowing exactly who you are is always a red flag.

"Yeah, the Alchemist didn't give us these Chaos Steel arrows to advertise to you." one of his cronies said. He'd let a secret slip, but not many details. I had no idea who this 'alchemist' was, or what this Chaos Steel really was.

"Shut up Wane!" Crew Cut shouted.

"What? Come on Seth! We've been tracking these two for two days!" Two days? We'd left the camp two days ago.

"Who are you?! You know my mom!" I shouted.

"Oh that. Name's Seth Hunt...Son of Orion."

My brain almost went into shock. Orion?! Mom's ex boyfriend? I couldn't imagine a Giant having kids with mortals. I hadn't heard anything that said they can't, but I still couldn't believe it. How could my luck be that bad?!

"Orion?! You guys are...some kind of...demigiants?!" Thalia asked. At this point, all seven of us were holding someone at gun...no, arrowpoint.

"Just me. These two aren't my brothers, Thalia Grace." Seth answered. "You see, Dad's not too happy about Artemis having a daughter. You can imagine this since not only was Artemis meant to break her oath of virginity for Dad, but now, the daughter of Artemis was sired by a mortal. Dad's picked this special moment to reveal his answer to these 'Hunters of Artemis'. Ladies and gentleman, I introduce to you...The Trackers of Orion."

I was having a hard time processing this. If this Seth guy was the son of Orion, did that make him a demigod like me, or some kind of...demigiant, like Thalia said? And more to the point, he had a group that was completely opposite to Mom's Hunters? Did Orion form the Trackers specifically to kill Mom's Hunters? Talk about holding a grudge.

This was really bad. These Trackers had been trained specifically to kill Hunters, and I was their prime target. At this point, I was really wishing James and his super-monster-weapons were here. But James was somewhere else in town, so we had to keep these guys talking long enough for someone to think of a plan.

"So you're just gonna kill us here?" I asked.

"Not you. These three are fair game for target practice. Dad's got special plans for you." Seth bragged, looking at me.

"Wait a minute." An idea was starting to form in my head. If Orion couldn't have married Artemis..."I have a boyfriend!"

"Dad's not gonna care about that. He lost his chance with Artemis. He's not giving up his shot at the next best thing."

"If you think I'm gonna marry some psychopath..."

"And he's willing to make a deal." Seth interrupted me. "If you come with us willingly, your friends can be on their way, even take the stupid shield."

"You're not taking Luna!" Raven shouted. "There's four of us, and only three of..." She was interrupted by what looked like ten amazon spear warriors, and I mean old-school amazons, revealing armor, big, terrifying spears, bodies covered in war paint from head to toe, hair all in braids. "Crap."

"What's this?!" Thalia demanded.

"Oh these? This is what happens when an Amazon, or a Hunter of Artemis, gets killed by Orion, or one of his Trackers."

"So that's what this is all about. Orion isn't simply taking revenge against Artemis, he's building an army against her!" Thalia shouted.

"What for? If he took Luna, what more would he have to gain?" Will asked.

"Doesn't matter. Either the daughter of Artemis comes with us quietly, and the rest of you take the shield and walk away, or you guys fight us, you die anyway, and we take the daughter of Artemis _and_ the shield."

"I don't suppose there's a third option?" I asked desperately.

"Actually, there's just one." A flash of light and loud noise coming from our direction seemed to blind the Trackers and amazons. I looked over and saw Will's mouth glowing for a second. I guess one of the Apollo kids' powers was to create a flash bang. "RUN!"

The flash bang gave us enough time to put some distance between ourselves and the trackers, but we were running through the woods for our lives. We shot off our red flare at an angle, so we'd hopefully be right under it by the time the ship came for us. Most of their arrows, we only dodged by sheer luck. And when we were up against Amazons, we not only had to dodge their deadly spears, but lasers, that's right, LASERS, from the spears.

Eventually, I landed a lucky headshot on one amazon, but it was with my last arrow. In an instant of panic and instinct, I grabbed the spear, hoping I could figure out how to use it in about a split second.

Watching Thalia's stance with her lance and shield, I tried my hand at spear and shield combat. I was thankful for the spear's extra reach, but it stil felt awkward in my hand. The spearhead was large, more like a blade than anything, and it seemed to resemble coiling snakes where it connected to the shaft. Eventually, we spotted the ship over us. It needed time to get us up. That's when it all went wrong.

I heard an arrow whiz past my ear and turned around. Seth was about to shoot another at my face. I had no idea if I could dodge it. I was done. That's when Raven jumped in front of me. She cried out in pain as it embedded itself in her shoulder. Will grabbed her before she fell, and I didn't have time for another plan. Seth was charging at us with one more arrow drawn. I had to act quickly. Taking up the shield, I flung it in the demigiant's direction like I saw in my vision.

With accuracy I didn't even know I had, the shield bashed Seth's hand, breaking the bow in the process. As the shield returned, I set it on my back, somehow hooking it to my quiver. I don't know how it happened. It just did...like by magic.

With both hands on my spear, I pointed it at Seth and concentrated, focusing on how I wanted the spear to act like a rifle. Much to my disbelieft, a green laser bullet fired from the spearhead, knocking Seth off his feet and giving us time for the ship to desende. It came to a near landing position so he could carry Raven up the gangplank. We never would have been able to carry her up the ladder. With the crossbows from the ship giving us covering fire, we managed to make it aboard and take off.

* * *

Even after we were out of their range, I could still hear Seth shouting at us from the ground. "THIS ISN'T OVER DAUGHTER OF ARTEMIS!"

"Raven!" I heard Zane's shout. I'd almost forgotten she was injured. I saw him running over to help Will carry her. I could see her energy flowing out of her body like a jet of steam. An arrow wound like that shouldn't have been much of a problem. It was just to the shoulder, but she looked pale and barely conscious.

"We have to get the arrow out. She's getting weaker by the second!" Will said. Thalia and Zane both helped him carry her to her room so Will could remove the arrow. I tried to follow them, dropping my new spear, but James held me back, holding me close as he struggled to calm me down.

"Luna! Settle down!" he said as he held me still. "Will knows what he's doing. Raven's safest with him." He was right. As I eventually stopped fighting his grip, I turned and wrapped my arms around him. He held me close as if to comfort me after what just happened. I tried to hold it in, but all of the threats against me and the others all just overwhelmed me at once. I started sobbing into Jame's chest, trying to pull myself together for the others. I calmed down after a minute or two when Sierra came up to check on us.

"What in Tartarus happened down there?" she asked.

"I'll be right down. But we have an idea who we're dealing with now." I told her. It was true. This time, we had a name, or at least an alias; The Alchemist.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18; New answers come to light, and Zane makes a decision**

 **If this update took a while, I left my job a couple of months ago, and am currently working on getting a new one. Also, sorry if this chapter seems short. Couldn't think of much this chapter could do.**

 **Luna's POV**

* * *

"Chaos Steel?" Percy asked. We'd just finished the briefing, though most of the others had already gone to bed, leaving just me, Zane, James, Sierra, Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth.

"That's what they called it. It's apparently the fourth magical metal, fifth if you count Lunar Silver." I explained.

"It perfectly matches the color, chrome texture, and steam-like aura of the throwing knife from the camp." Sierra said, setting the knife on the table for us to compare to the arrow.

"So how did these 'Trackers of Orion' get this stuff anyway?" Percy asked.

"They didn't say, but one of them let it slip they got it from someone called 'The Alchemist'." I explained.

"So stupid!" Annabeth suddenly slapped her forehead.

"What? What is it?" Percy asked.

"I should have figured it out when that green lion attacked. The green lion eating the sun is a symbol in alchemy. It's a metaphor for a green liquid sulfate called vitriol eating through matter, leaving only purified gold behind." Annabeth explained.

Percy looked a bit dumbfounded, as if still trying to figure out what Annabeth just said. "I doubt anyone would have recognized something like that."

"Well, if that lion had been eating a yellow sun, I would have seen it instantly."

"Oh yes, except for the lack of an edible fireball, it should have been completely obvious."

"It must have been some sort of golem." Zane guessed.

"Golem?"

"It's an artificially being built entirely of inorganic materials, like clay or soil."

"How did you know that?" Annabeth asked.

"It was on Fullmetal Alchemist."

Percy facepalmed. "I really don't think anime is good information source for this kind of alchemy."

"Let's just go to bed." I interrupted. "Whatever the next key is, we need our sleep if we want any chance of getting it."

"I agree." James said. As everyone got up to leave, he leaned in to whisper to me. "You want to stay in my room tonight?" He didn't mean anything but actual sleep, so get your minds out of the gutter right now.

"Sure." I answered him. "I just gotta go ask Thalia to stay with Raven." I was about to talk to Thalia, but then I heard Zane talking to her by the door.

"I'm sorry Zane. It's Raven's decision." I heard Thalia say.

"You know exactly what you're making her risk if she joins that damn hunt!" Zane said. He tried to keep his voice down, but I could still tell he was angry.

"Look, I know the Trackers of Orion are dangerous, but we can handle them. As soon as we get those weapons, we can take the fight to them."

"But Raven doesn't even know how to use her powers yet. You could only be endangering her further by making her do this."

"She can handle herself. She took a hit for Luna after all."

"Luna's not even joining the Hunters."

"Probably not, but Raven's still made the decision to join. Besides, once we find your dad's weapons, we'll be able to take the fight to these Trackers directly."

"What if only demigods can use these weapons? Did you think of that? Raven, despite her powers, wherever they came from, is still mortal. She might not be able or even allowed to touch these weapons. What if they're too powerful for mortal hands?"

"We'll deal with that issue when and if it happens. If you want Raven to leave the Hunt, you'll have to take it up with Artemis when we meet her. She knows what it's like to have a brother. She doesn't like men, but maybe she'll go easy on you for looking out for Luna. Besides, you don't even know if Artemis will let Raven join. Only maidens can join the Hunt, and Raven's 'situation', despite it not being her fault, could make it impossible for her to join anyway."

"How can you guarantee Raven's safety? Even if that happens, how are the Trackers supposed to know she's not a Hunter?"

"When did you become this paranoid? Before we left, you had no complaints about Raven leaving you for the Hunt."

"That was when I was the one being directly targeted, not her."

I didn't hear anything else but Zane walking away back to his room, so I gave him a minute to get out of earshot before talking to Thalia. "Hey, do you have a minute?" I asked her.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Do you mind staying with Raven tonight? I'm sleeping in James' room for a while." Thalia smirked and, I swear, started snickering at me. "Stop laughing at me! We're not doing 'that'." I whispered, knowing exactly what was so funny.

"Sorry. It's just...I still can't believe your Artemis' daughter. For one thing, a daughter of the virgin goddess isn't exactly common. Second, you clearly don't share your mother's distaste in men. Honestly, if you hadn't been claimed, I would still be insisting you were Apollo's daughter, due to the archery thing."

"How did those Trackers of Orion find out about me anyway?"

"I have no idea. We could have another spy at camp, but I'm hoping the camp was just bugged. Our spy could, literally, be a fly on the wall."

"Let's hope so. I've got enough problems right now. The last thing we need to deal with is a traitor in our midst."

"Try dealing with a spy in the middle of a war." Thalia said. "Long story, don't ask."

"I probably don't want to know anyway."

"Yeah. Well, good night." Thalia turned to go sleep in Raven's room, but I stopped her for something else.

"Wait. You should go easier on Zane. Raven's the only family he's got left. If anything were to happen to her,...I don't know what he'd do."

"He needs to trust Raven more. She's no demigod, but she can handle herself."

"Thalia, you still don't get it. What if you were in Zane's shoes and Jason was in danger? Wouldn't you protect him to the best of your ability?"

"Hey. Don't even get me started on that. You think it's easy being a child of the Big Three? We're targeted by more monsters than any other kind of demigod."

"Well, imagine what kind of enemies Zane's making. His dad took down almost everyone in Greek mythology. I doubt there's anyone who doesn't want revenge on Kratos through his son."

Thalia seemed speechless, at a loss for words. "Alright, you've made your point, but it's Raven who Zane's worried about. Just get some rest. I have a feeling things are about to get even tougher."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19, I hit a Knockout!**

 **Sorry for the slow updating. Having trouble with writer's block and procrastination again, not to mention how I got Skyrim for my 25** **th** **birthday, and basically became almost obssessed with it, so I'm a bit preoccupied with a Skyrim forum at the moment. I'm kind of juggling two stories at the same time at this point; this one, and another story I'm working on getting started. Also, part of this chapter is me completely making up part of a canon character's backstory based on my best guess. If I got it wrong, I apologize. I'm also completely ignoring whatever happens in the Trials of Apollo for the sake of continuity. I thought the Percy Jackson books would end at Heroes of Olympus, so I'm writing this as if Apollo never became a mortal. If this chapter seems hastily written to you guys, it's because I was overdue for a new chapter.**

 **Sierra's POV**

* * *

I was really hoping Zane was finally going to get his own quest this time. Sierra and James already had their big battles, and earned their own new weapons. It was Zane's turn to get one. This quest was all about his father after all. And after what happened, I just know Zane wanted his own new weapons too.

We'd arrived at a college, West Virginia University. The book told us the Ascension Club was down there somewhere, but I was skeptical. Exactly how are you supposed to hide an ancient Greek bludgeoning weapon heavy enough to smash through solid steel?

"Where should we land?" Zane asked Leo.

"I'd set her down in the football field. We should be able to get back to it quickly if it's here." Leo said. I'd almost zoned out, staring at the campus from above.

"Sierra?" Zane nudged my shoulder to snap me back to reality. "Do you see something?"

"No, it's just..." I figured it was my turn to open up to him. It just felt so easy telling him stuff. "I never thought I'd ever set foot on a college campus. My stepdad kept saying 'we didn't have the money' which I knew was bull crap. He was just too cheap to help me pay for it at all."

"And you're thinking it's even less likely now, knowing you're a demigod?" Zane asked, basically reading my mind.

"Demigods rarely make it to their twenties. You and I could especially get killed within the next few days." I reminded him, bringing up our specific situations.

"Percy and Annabeth told me about this college in the Roman camp. They're going there once this summer's over."

"How are we supposed to get in? Isn't there a 'no Greeks' rule?"

"I'm not sure that applies much any more."

"So you're saying I could get into the college there?"

"We both could."

His answer struck a chord in me, made my heartbeat speed up like crazy, and I couldn't tell why. "So... we go to college together?"

"Well, I..." Before he could finish, some flying creature snatched him off the ship faster than any of us could think. I looked out to see him flailing and swearing at the horrible creature that took him. At first glance, it was just like the cleaning harpies at the camp. But under closer inspection, it had too many batlike features; wings, ears, claws, you name it.

"ZANE!" I screamed like a maniac, panicking as the bat harpy carried him off. Another one hovered by the ship as the others gathered on the deck.

"The son of Kratos is our prey now!" the bat harpy screeched.

"GIVE HIM BACK!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn't say that 'exactly', but you probably shouldn't hear the language I actually used.

"If you want him back. Send only three. You know which three. Prove how strong the REAL god of war is!" We all knew what the creature meant. Only children of Ares could go save Zane; Frank, Clarisse, and me.

* * *

After the incident, I dashed back to my room in a panic, grabbing my twin swords in a hurry and trying to rush off the ship, only to run into Frank, who grabbed my shoulders to try and clam me down. Clarisse followed close behind, standing in the door of my room.

"Hey! Wars aren't won with panic attacks." he told me.

"Let go!" I snapped, shaking his hands off my shoulders. "We're wasting time!"

"Calm down!" he insisted. Like that was going to help. Seriously, have you ever successfully calmed someone down by telling them to calm down? It doesn't work that way. "I know you want to save Zane, but going in there impulsively like this is just going to get both of you killed!"

His words finally sunk in, so I turned around, sat on my bed and almost broke down crying. I held it in the best I could, but I guess Frank could tell I was upset. "I can't lose him too." I said, my voice cracking. I'd already lost my mom, and that was one person too many to lose.

"Look, my grandmother was surrounded by cannibal giants before she died. She got away, but only to die on her own terms. I couldn't rush in swords swinging either. I needed a plan. I got in with Percy and Hazel, but then we were attacked from all sides the next morning."

"I think I've lost enough people in my life." I said, almost sobbing.

I guess Frank could tell what this was about, because he sat on the bed next to me and put his arm over my shoulders. "I lost my mom in combat too...Afghanistan."

"My mom's a cop. I have to go every night worrying whether or not she'll come home." Clarisse commented.

"The point is that all of us Ares kids know what it's like to have moms who could die in combat. Police, military, you name it. We know what it's like to lose people we love." Frank told me.

"I can't lose Zane. Not him." I blurted out.

"You won't. For one thing, we need him for the quest. It's completely obvious that he's the center of the quest. Another thing, he's our friend too."

I didn't say anything for a bit when that came up. I couldn't think straight for even a second with Zane missing. "Let's just go already. Zane needs us."

* * *

It was weird going into the campus stadium with Frank and Clarisse. I spent so much time in the forge and Hephaestus cabin, I almost forgot that I was technically Ares' daughter. Granted, that was the plan, but still.

"Do harpies taste like chicken?" Frank asked after an awkward silence.

"Uh...I don't know." Clarisse answered, after I completely ignored Frank's question. I could tell they were trying to lighten the mood, but they were really bad at it. Ares kids aren't exactly known for making people feel better, and frankly, I just wanted Zane back. Unfortunately, they weren't gonna let me just bust my way in there without calming down first.

"Both of you shut up and keep your weapons ready." I snapped at them, getting ready to burn down the door. My swords were already on fire when Frank put his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, I know you want Zane back, but charging in there swords blazing isn't gonna help anyone. We need to focus. Stay alert, and stay on your guard." Frank warned me.

"Tell that to the harpies before I rip their wings off and make them eat them." I snapped back. Frank and Clarisse got really quiet after hearing that. I must have been really scary to freak Clarisse out, her of all people, but I wanted Zane back, and I was limb-ripping mad at those harpies. I think I would have scared the Hulk right out of Bruce Banner at the time.

As we walked into the sports stadium, all of us drew our weapons, Clarisse and I with our swords, and Frank getting his bow and arrows ready.

"Watch my back." I told my two half-siblings. "I'm focusing on Zane."

As soon as I told them that, the lights came on, revealing Zane being held in the hand of a humungous robot man. Its other hand held a spinning bronze gear that looked like it weighed a ton. From behind him, three more automatons stepped out, each designed to look Spartan armor with a huge metal collar. All three of them had huge warhammers, but each channeled a different elemental power; fire, ice, and lightning.

"Sierra!" Zane called out. "Don't even think about it scrap heaps!" he shouted at the robots.

"QUIET!" screeched the bat harpy from above him. At her command, the automaton squeezed Zane a little tighter, drawing out a groan from him. I started seeing a flow of steam traveling up the arm from Zane. That's when I noticed its arm. It was the same chrome look of the throwing knife from the camp, and the arrow that hit Raven. The automaton's arm was made of Chaos Steel. I figured out why Zane couldn't break the robot's grip. It was sapping his strength away. If we took too long killing the automatons, the Chaos Steel would drain Zane dry.

"Let him go!" I shouted at the harpy. I took a look at her, seeing the glint of Chaos Steel on her claws. That had to be how she carried Zane off and lived to tell about it. They'd been sapping his strength the whole time. But now, her claws held what we came here for to begin with; the Club of Ascension. The leather-wrapped metal pole was capped on both ends with gold, with one end being a gold spike. The club's weight itself looked like three concrete blocks, though it was probably the heaviest kind of stone imaginable.

"Not until the children of Ares pass the test. Prove the strength of the true god of war! Defeat the smaller versions of the bronze giant, Talos, and the son of Kratos will be returned to you."

"Sierra. You take on the fire one." Frank whispered to us. "Clarisse, you take lightning. Ice is all mine."

"Ready." Clarisse said, getting out her electrified spear as Frank got his bow and arrows ready.

"On my signal. One..." Frank didn't get as far as two before I charged screaming at the Fire Talos. "Um...Three."

Yes, I admit charging at a huge fire-hammer-wielding robot wasn't the best idea, but apparently, I had the speed advantage. My dual-wielded swords were surprisingly good for stabbing and slashing weak spots and joints. Clarisse was using her electric spear's reach to hit gaps in their armor, while Frank had to settle for shooting arrows from a distance. None of us would survive even attempting to block an attack from these things, so we had to use our agility for a 'hit and run' strategy.

Unfortunately, we were running out of stamina pretty quickly. We couldn't keep dodging flaming/freezing/electrified sledgehammers forever, and Zane was running out of time. I did what I thought was guaranteed to get myself killed. I climbed up the robot and stabbed my sword into one of its shoulder joints, making it drop the massive hammer. On impulse, I jumped down to grab it, expecting to be completely unable to pick it up, but somehow, the hammer changed size, becoming like a warhammer from Skyrim.

"Frank! Heads up!" I shouted, charging at the ice Talos. With the fire hammer, I was able to smash through its knee, forcing it to kneel while Frank changed into a gorilla and yanked its bronze head off, throwing it at the lightning Talos. The electric robot was knocked senseless long enough for me and Clarisse to take out its neck joint, taking it down for good.

"Alright. I believe you were about to put down the son of Kratos?"

"Change of plans!" the harpy screeched. The automaton picked up a massive cog with its bronze arm, the gear spinning like a saw blade. As it threw it, the ground beneath it shredded into gravel. Even worse, it was attached to a steel cable and returned to its hand like a yo-yo. Typical. Even when you complete the task, the monster still tries to kill you. Cheaters.

The three of us had to scatter. I charged for Zane, having to zig zag with Frank and Clarisse to confuse the automaton, before I was finally close enough to stab through its weapon hand with my sword. Grabbing the handle to the Grinder-Gear, Frank hurled the oversized yo-yo at the robot's Chaos Steel shoulder, smashing right through it. As it dropped Zane, Frank grabbed the arm, and I caught Zane as the hand dropped him.

"Zane!" I screamed, catching as quickly as I could. He looked pale and completely drained, almost like Sierra had. I started freaking out. Was he really dead? Before I could start panicking though, the color started returning to his face. He regained conciousness faster than I thought he would.

"Sierra?" he asked, as if he'd just woken up from a nap. I couldn't believe it. He had been completely drained into being bedridden by just one arrow of that Chaos Steel. Zane had been squeezed in a giant robot arm made of it, and was completely fine. How fast could this guy heal?! My tears of joy were interupted by a huge pain in my back. Specifically, pain caused by Chaos Steel talons that harpy had put on. It was then that I learned how it felt to be affected by Chaos Steel. After even a single strike, you feel a surge of fatigue overtake you, threatening to make you collapse where you stand.

"Sierra!" Zane shouted, suddenly holding me the way I caught him. I could feel my fatigue threatening to overtake me, but I could stay awake long enough to see Frank get a hold on me. With me in safe hands, Zane stood up and gave the bat harpy a death-glare. Dodging another swipe, Soldin threw his chain-dagger at the monster, then pulled it down under his foot like he was fishing.

"Where did you get that Chaos Steel?!" he shouted at the harpy, keeping his foot down on it while pulling the wings up hard. The harpy screeched and howled in pain, straining to escape Zane's grip. The screeching was becoming too loud. We weren't gonna get any information out of this bat harpy. I guess Zane figured that out too, because after a few seconds of the harpy's screeching, he yanked her wings right out of their sockets and stomped on her head, killing the freaky bat-monster. "Are you okay?" he asked, turning back to me.

"I...I think so." I said weakly, straining to get up.

"We gotta get her to the ship fast." Frank said.

"Clarisse, gather up the weapons." Zane called out, picking me up in his arms. "You're gonna be alright." he whispered to me, carrying me bridal-style. As fatigued as I was, I could feel my heart rate skyrocketing.

* * *

Back on the ship, Zane took me to my room and helped me into bed, letting Annabeth patch me up. Annabeth told him to look away while she pulled my shirt up to bandage my back, but I caught him trying to peak out the corner of his eye, just like I'd hoped.

"Is she going to be okay?" he asked, trying to peak as subtley as he could.

"She should be." Annabeth told him. "The Chaos Steel was only in her back for a split second. It drained some of her energy alright, but she was already fatigued from the fight. A good night's sleep, and she'll be fine."

"That's good to hear. Zane and I still have two more weapons to grab." I commented.

"I'd give it a couple of days. We've got plenty of people to get the next weapon."

"We've got a good lead so far. We've already got three of the Keys of Ascension. Only the Sling and Sword are left. Two more, and we can find my dad's weapons." Zane pointed out.

"Let's not get cocky. That's usually when things start to really go wrong. Okay. All finished." Annabeth was finished patching me up, so she helped me get my shirt back on, then told Zane he could look again. "Don't forget, Leo ordered pizza for dinner tonight. Be on time, or it won't last very long."

When Annabeth was out of the room, it was just me and Zane in the room. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before I blurted out the first thing that came to my head. "Isn't Will the doctor on the ship? Why did Annabeth patch me up instead of him?"

"I think he and Nico are arguing about something again. Do those two ever get along?" Zane asked.

"Oh that's right. You didn't arrive at the camp until later after that."

"After what?"

"Will and Nico were a lot 'closer' before this summer." I put air quotes around 'closer'.

"What do you mean 'closer'?"

"Well,...Nico's always hated being touched. And...Will wanted to do something that involved a lot of 'touching'."

"Oh..." Zane was clearly uncomfortable talking about that particular issue. "I'm just gonna say it. That's just plain creepy."

"I know, right? I hate when people try and act like that's completely normal."

"Not to mention people are attacked for not wanting to participate in those kinds of 'marriages'. Those people already have it better here than anywhere else in the world. If they really wanted 'equality', they would have calmed the Hades down by now."

"No kidding." I felt good talking about this to Zane. It was so hard to find someone who shared your views on politics. It was hard enough finding someone with similar interests. "Let's go get that pizza. I'm starving."


End file.
